“Reopening in time for the upcoming Australian school holidays will help spur our economic recovery in the short term and is good news for the winter ski season,” Ardern said at a press conference.
Originally the border was not expected to fully reopen until October, but she said this would be brought forward.
From April 12, Australians will be able to travel to New Zealand without isolation. Two and a half weeks later, vaccinated travellers from countries with visa waiver arrangements including the United States and the UK will be allowed to arrive.
The announcement did not cover arrivals from China and India, where visas are required to visit New Zealand followed by serving an isolation period.
“Closing our border was one of the first actions we took to stop COVID-19 two years ago. It did the job we needed. But now that we’re highly vaccinated and predicted to be off our Omicron peak, it’s now safe to open up.”
Australia and New Zealand travellers have historically made up 40 per cent of New Zealand’s international arrivals, with around 1.5 million Australians visiting each year.
Air New Zealand Chief Executive Officer Greg Foran welcomed the change, saying it’s no secret the past two years have been extremely turbulent for people.
“It’s also been incredibly hard for our tourism operators around the country. Today’s announcement will help them get back to what they do best—welcoming international visitors to Aotearoa,” Foran said.
Ardern said she was proud that New Zealand is a country that is able to provide a safe place for tourists to return to due to its strong health response to COVID-19, the low death rate in the past two years, and high rates of vaccinations.
But earlier on March 7, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) upgraded New Zealand into the highest risk category, warning Americans against travelling to the island country.
The CDC advised to “avoid travel to New Zealand. If you must travel to New Zealand, make sure you are vaccinated and up to date with your COVID-19 vaccines before travel.”
New Zealand was heralded by many experts for its zero-COVID policy and widespread vaccination push, which worked until the case counts began soaring again and are now recording an average of 20,000 cases a day.
Ardern said that in a world still battling COVID-19, travellers will be discerning about where they go in the short term.
“We know that traveller numbers will be below pre-COVID levels for a while and tourism globally will take time to rebound, but today’s announcement means we’re ready to go, so haere mai welcome back,” Ardern said.
“An earlier reopening for tourism, and the air travel that brings, also increases capacity for our exports, helping to lower freight rates and the flow-on costs of goods that stems from that.”
