Jun 01, 2021

The Latest News Regarding Borders Re-Opening Following the Latest PM Meeting in Queenstown

Prime ministers Jacinda Ardern (New Zealand) and Scott Morrison (Australia) this week met in Queenstown on the South Island of New Zealand. It was the the first face-to-face meeting between the heads of the two countries in well over a year!

While we are excited that conversations have taken place between the two countries, things are still foggy as to when the borders will re-open for travel outside of the Trans-Tasman "bubble."

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Unfortunately at this time we have no concrete information (June, 2021) as to when New Zealand plans to re-open its borders. Depending on who one speaks with, it sounds like a joint effort with Australia aims for early 2022.

Our hope of course is that "early" means as close to Jan 1 as possible!

The latest out of the PMs' Queenstown Meeting (May, 2021) is a somewhat hopeful, albeit vague, joint statement issued by Ardern and Morrison to “explore technological solutions to verify vaccination status to enable Australians and New Zealanders to reconnect with the wider world."

The fact is that re-opening the border is complicated. Each country has taken a zero-tolerance policy toward Covid and are far from having their population vaccinated. Allowing visitors will depend at a minimum on vaccination supplies reaching both countries by the end of the year, the administration of those shots across the population and approved methods to provide assurance for those entering either country have also received vaccinations.

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We have provides a Covid-19 FAQ page which we will continue to update with information about New Zealand.

If you are interested to visit when the border re-opens please email us or click here to get on the list!

Photo credit: Tourism Ticker

Author: Frank Krieger