If you’ve hit up all of the best camping spots nearby and even ventured across Australia to check some things off your bucket-list, then you might be itching to get back overseas.
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With the recent announcement of the quarantine-free trans-Tasman travel bubble set to begin on April 19, people have begun making international holiday plans for the first time since early last year.
Once a safe travel zone has been confirmed between Australia and New Zealand, Aussies could be looking at adding even more destinations to their travel list, as the Government looks to open the border to more countries.
Whether you’re wondering where’s next or have already started researching New Zealand’s top hidden spots, here’s everything you need to know about international travel right now.
What other travel bubbles will there be?
Though nothing is set in stone at this stage, Qantas boss Alan Joyce wants to see more bubbles open up sooner rather than later.
“There’s clearly a lot of countries in the Asia-Pacific region that have had a tight control on COVID-19, but they give us market opportunities for Singapore, markets like Japan, markets like Taiwan for us to potentially open up,” Joyce told News.com.au.
“But also actively looking at the Pacific Islands, because there (are) real good opportunities in places like Fiji and the Pacific Islands to open up.” With all that being said, Joyce also expressed that the decision will depend on COVID-19 case numbers, the level of restrictions, and testing levels in each country.
Federal Tourism Minister Dan Tehan has singled out Singapore as the top choice for the next bubble, which Singapore’s Transport Minister, Ong Ye Kung, confirmed.
“We are exploring with several countries and regions, including Australia, on the mutual recognition of vaccination certificates,” he told Singapore’s Parliament recently.
Despite being ‘in talks’, there is currently no time frame in place, as Prime Minister Scott Morrison recently said that Australia was in “no position” to be announcing the next potential bubble.
Will the borders reopen once people are vaccinated?
Health Minister Greg Hunt expressed that there is no “guarantee” the borders will re-open after the full vaccination roll-out, which is currently behind schedule.
“Vaccination alone is no guarantee that you can open up. And this was a discussion that in fact I had with Professor (Brendan) Murphy in just the last 24 hours, that if the whole country were vaccinated, you couldn’t just open the borders,” Hunt said in a press conference.
Will other bubbles affect travel to New Zealand?
If Australia opened its borders to another bubble, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has suggested that they may then carefully review the trans-Tasman bubble.
“It is fair to say they [Singapore] have a different strategy than either of our countries… so I imagine that that would be something that would be given long and hard consideration before any decisions were made,” Ardern said in a recent press conference.
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