New Zealand reopens to first foreign travellers
First Australian flight touched down at 6am in Auckland
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.This morning, the first foreign visitors to New Zealand landed at its major city airports in the first stage of its phased reopening to international travellers.
The country - which has remained largely sealed off from the world since the start of the pandemic - is initially allowing only Australian visitors and permanent NZ residents to enter.
Both groups must be double vaccinated in order to visit, and must take a pre-travel Covid test. They can choose between a PCR in the previous 48 hours or an antigen or LAMP test within the previous 24.
Arrivals are also advised to self-test on day one, but only need quarantine if the result comes back positive.
Border controls will be relaxed further on 2 May, when vaccinated arrivals from countries that don’t require a visa for New Zealand will also be welcomed, including British tourists.
Australian arrivals were last allowed into NZ in summer 2021, during the countries’ short-lived “travel bubble” arrangement - which opened almost exactly a year ago but ended in July amid the emergence of the Delta variant.
Masks are still required in various places on the ground in New Zealand, including on flights, public transport and in some indoor settings such as hairdressers.
More than 4,000 travellers were expected to arrive in Auckland and Wellington today on Air New Zealand flights alone.
The airline has 11 near-full flights from Melbourne, Sydney, Gold Coast, Brisbane and Perth arriving into New Zealand on 13 April, the first having touched down in Auckland at 6am.
“This is the first step in welcoming international visitors back to our shores and we couldn’t be more excited for both New Zealand and Air New Zealand,” said the airline’s chief customer officer, Leanne Geraghty.
“We’ve seen high demand across the Tasman with Aussies keen to reconnect with friends and whānau [a Māori word for extended family or community], both in New Zealand and Australia.”
Chief executive of Tourism Aotearoa, Rebecca Ingram, added: “There’s definitely a more positive feeling about the future and the opportunities to rebuild businesses.”
Heading in the other direction, Australia is due to drop its pre-travel test for incoming foreign arrivals on Monday, 18 April.
“From 18 April 2022 travellers to Australia will no longer be required to undertake a Covid-19 pre-departure test before boarding their flight,” reads an update to the Department of Health guidelines.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments