Lidia Kelly

MELBOURNE (Reuters – Australia is welcoming international tourists Monday, nearly two decades after sealing its borders. Having relied on high COVID-19 vaccine rates to survive the pandemic and declining infections for almost two years, Australia now welcomes them.

Scott Morrison, Prime Minister of Australia stated at a briefing on Sunday at Melbourne International Airport that the wait was over.

Australia’s recent opening of tourism is the most obvious example yet that the government has moved away from a rigid zero-COVID approach towards living with the disease and vaccinations to the public in order to reduce deaths and severe illnesses.

The Omicron virus variant has been responsible for most of the nation’s coronavirus-related infections, which have reached 2.7 million. However, the country has one of the highest rates of vaccination – 94%+ of 16-year-olds are double-vaccinated – which means that there have only been a few thousand deaths. This is a far cry from the high rates in other countries.

Sunday’s coronavirus outbreak in the United States was the largest ever reported. It affected more than 16.600 people, 33 of whom were killed, even though all other regions had previously reported.

We will see if tourists return to the island continent known as “fortress Australia”, due to its tight border control. It hopes that the government can boost pre-pandemic sector growth – real tourist gross domestic product grew 3.4% between 2018 and 2019, compared to 1.9% overall GDP growth.

Since November, Australia slowly reopened. First, Australians were allowed to enter and leave the country, and then, international students and workers are permitted. On Monday, more leisure travelers and business travellers will be allowed to enter.

Steve Hughes (head of HSBC’s commercial banking operations in Australia) stated that the reopening will strengthen Australia’s reputation as an open country and allow businesses with international interests more easily do business.

“We believe that mid-sized companies who have experienced the limit of domestic growth will feel reenergized and ready to explore offshore expansion.”

Tourists who have been fully vaccinated will not be required to go to quarantine. However, those with a lower dose will need a travel exemption in order to enter the country. They will also need to comply to all quarantine regulations.

($1 = 1.3941 Australian dollars)