27/05/2020
AUSTRALIANS could be heading to New Zealand for a holiday in early Jul and venturing to other short-haul international markets by Sep, according to a timetable released today by the newly formed Tourism Restart Taskforce (TD 29 Apr). The schedule (pictured) outlines when the council agrees each sector should be able to begin to move out of hibernation and on the road to recovery and was created following a meeting last Fri joined by Federal Tourism Minister Simon Birmingham. Tourism Restart Taskforce member and Australian Chamber - Tourism Exec Chair John Hart told Travel Daily the six steps in the timetable would act as “markers” for the industry, and be adjusted based on ongoing health advice and as State Governments made further decisions. He said establishing a timetable allowed for industry and government to identify the next steps and what measures could be done to reach them. He noted that domestic travel could begin by the beginning of Jul, but cautioned “the reality is, tourism cannot restart until the state borders are opened”. On the international front, Hart said there’s a lot of activity planning what a trans-Tasman bubble will look like, with the taskforce pinning early Jul as a potential start date. “From the taskforce’s perspective, what we wanted to do is put a line in the sand and say it should be possible from that date,” he said. He also flagged the opening of further international markets as possible by Sep or Oct, but the timetable does not envision a full return of international travel until 2021 at the earliest. Acknowledging it was too soon to say which market would likely follow New Zealand, the taskforce thinks it will be short-haul. “I think it’s reasonable to think that we’ll have a couple of markets being able to return on those sort of dates,” he added. The taskforce also envisions local expedition cruising phasing in from as early as 05 Jun.
AUSTRALIANS could be heading to New Zealand for a holiday in early Jul and venturing to other short-haul international markets by Sep, according to a timetable released today by the newly formed Tourism Restart Taskforce (TD 29 Apr).