In March 2020, Australia established among of the world’s strictest travel restrictions on its citizens and permanent residents in order to prevent them from taking COVID-19 back to their homeland.
Foreign students and skilled migrants were given priority over tourists when border controls were reduced in November as a result of an increasing vaccination rate among the Australian population. This was in reaction to a rising vaccination rate among the Australian population.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Monday that his top ministers had decided that the border will reopen to all visa holders who had been vaccinated starting on February 21.
Visitors, according to Morrison, must provide evidence of immunisation. Specifically, he was referring to the deportation of Serbian tennis ace Novak Djokovic by the Australian government last month because he had not been vaccinated against coronavirus.
The Djokovic case revealed that obtaining visas via an automated procedure before travelling to Australia does not ensure that tourists would fulfil the country’s entrance criteria once they reach their destination.
Visitors who can produce confirmation of a medical reason why they are unable to be vaccinated may request for a travel exemption, according to Karen Andrews, Minister of Home Affairs and Immigration.
Visitors to Australia may also have to deal with the COVID-19 laws of several states if they travel throughout the nation.
Perth, Western Australia, which encompasses a third of the island continent, has the tightest state border regulations in the world.
The state accepts just 265 international arrivals every week and imposes a 14-day quarantine period for any foreigners arriving in the country.
Two Australians who returned from a trip to southern Africa on Nov. 27 were the first people to test positive for the omicron form, prompting Australia to postpone its staged border reopening.
It has been decided to postpone the entry of students and skilled professionals by two weeks, until December 15.
Tourist companies have been urging the government to encourage visitors to return sooner rather than later. The southern hemisphere summer is in its last month.
Australia’s main industry organisation, the Australian Tourist Export Council, which represents the nation’s tourism export sector, said that tourism businesses were looking forward to re-establishing themselves in their respective markets.
“Australian tourist firms will be ecstatic to learn that our borders will be reopened to all foreign passengers,” said Peter Shelley, managing director of the Australian Tourism Industry Council.
“It’s been a long, hard and difficult path for every tourist firm throughout the nation and we have lost many along the way, but this news will give those who have survived a clear aim to strive towards and a start point for the restoration of the industry,” Shelley continued.
