Australia says it will open to fully vaccinated travellers on February 21. In welcome news for the battered and bruised Australian tourism industry, as well as Canadian and other airlines and worldwide tour companies, the Australian government today (Feb. 7) said it will end a nearly two-year-long ban on foreign travellers. Reuters reports the announcement means that people can travel to Australia from anywhere in the world as long as they are double vaxxed; the first time that’s been allowed since March, 2020. “If you’re double-vaccinated, we look forward to welcoming you back to Australia,” said Aussie Prime Minister Scott Read more
Australia/New Zealand/PAC
One of the most tightly sealed countries during the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic says it will hopes to fully reopen by October of this year. According to CNTraveler, the government of New Zealand this week announced a five-step plan to fully reopen in time for their busy spring/summer season. New Zealand closed its borders to most world travellers in March of 2020, and has hardly budged since. Under step four of the government’s plan, visitors from Canada, the U.S. and other countries with waived visas will be allowed to enter beginning in July of this year, as long as they’re fully Read more
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has given Australia lovers some encouraging news, saying he expects the international border may reopen “well before Easter”. Australia’s international borders have been closed at least partially since February 2020, but recent changes eased restrictions on certain visa holders, SkyNews reports. “I can’t give you a specific date yet … and that’s because we’re just watching how Omicron is sort of washing over the eastern states,” Morrison told 4CA in Cairns on Friday. “I’d like to see us get there soon, certainly before Easter, well before Easter.” Easter this year falls on Sunday, April 17, which Read more
Aussie spirit is alive and well at Goway and growing stronger in anticipation of Australia’s projected reopening later this year. As a leader in selling Australia and the South Pacific, Goway is marking Australia Day this January 26 by rededicating itself to sharing Australia with the wider world. Over the past 22 months, Goway has continued to support its Australian partners and worked to foster excitement for travellers who are dreaming about visiting Australia in the near future. To this end, Goway has reimagined its travel packages to Australia and polished its collection of best-selling vacations. Goway has also tapped into Read more
So, this is interesting. A new study called the Tourism Sentiment Index has looked at the “most loved” destinations around the world, and it’s not at all what you might expect. Richmond, British Columbia was the top Canadian destination listed, coming 34th overall. Mississauga, Ontario was 42nd in the world and finished second in Canada. The company, which is based in Vancouver, said its findings were “drawn from more than 1.6 billion online conversations and content pieces publicly available about 21,330 global destinations.” “Our work with destinations is amassing a continuously expanding dataset within Tourism Sentiment Index,” the group said Read more
