Australia Reopens International Borders For Tourism After 2-Year Ban

Описание: Australia reopened its international borders to double-vaccinated tourists, following almost two years of strict travel bans introduced to stem the spread of Covid-19.

Travelers were greeted at Sydney's airport by jubilant well-wishers waving toy koalas and favourite Australian foods including Tim Tams chocolate cookies and jars of Vegemite spread.

It’s also a long-awaited day for the tourism sector -- which employed about 5% of the nation’s workforce and contributed 3% to the economy prior to the pandemic -- and was already reeling in early 2020 from devastating wildfires.

Tourism Australia Managing Director Phillipa Harrison said it will take a while to get tourists levels back to where they were before COVID-19 restrictions forced the closures of the country's borders.

"This is a really great start. This what the industry had been asking us for, you know, just give us our international guests back and we will take it from there, and so it's really exciting that this is happening right now," she said.

Tourism and trade minister Dan Tehan, speaking to Bloomberg Television from Sydney Airport, said he was confident that the tourism market would “rebound very strongly, very quickly” now the borders are open.

The reopening will be a major boost to Australia’s key services industries, with a potential influx of students, working holidaymakers and skilled visa holders offering the prospect of filling shortages in pockets of the labor market.

“The wait is over. There’s some more than 1.2 million people around the world who are visaed up and they can come,” Prime Minister Morrison said ahead of the reopening. “To tourists all around the world, pack your bags, come and have one of the greatest experiences you could ever imagine.”

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