THE current outbreak of COVID-19 in Vic has kyboshed plans for trial flights between Canberra and Wellington, which will now not proceed until after the upcoming New Zealand election planned for 19 Sep.
The pilot program initiated by the Tourism Recovery Taskforce (TD 04 Jun), aimed to demonstrate the protocols around safe travel inside a trans-Tasman bubble, and was “really far down the line” before the Vic coronavirus setback, according to Taskforce member Jacqui Walshe.
Speaking yesterday at a Visit USA update, Walshe detailed some of the work being undertaken, including the ongoing “aspirational timetable” for restart of various sectors (TD 26 May) which aims to keep up the pressure for reopenings.
Walshe noted the inclusion of comments about resumption of international travel in the latest Federal Budget update (TD 24 Jul), which indicated some resumptions from Jan 2021.
“But we don’t anticipate that will be full international borders reopening,” she said.
“It will be safe border reopening where possible in a managed, planned way, so health and safety protocols around quarantines and testing, tracing, safe and clean environments will be to the fore.”
The Taskforce met with officials, including Tourism Minister Simon Birmingham, earlier this week, and has stressed significant concerns about the distribution channels for travel, both inbound and outbound.
“While domestic is a little bit of the answer, it’s definitely not the total answer…there are a lot of businesses that were very reliant on international travel in both directions and that is still a challenge,” Walshe said.
She confirmed the Taskforce was working on a range of “managed tourism strategies” to at least get some sectors moving again, such as student travellers and some corporate options like the movie production crews who recently entered Australia.
“We’re going to do everything we can to focus on the restart part of our mandate as a Taskforce,” Walshe said.
MEANWHILE during this week’s meeting the Taskforce also highlighted to the Minister the importance of assistance to help the industry restart once borders start to reopen and tourism and travel get back on track.
“Once we know what the timetable is – we’re hoping to get at least three months notice – we’re going to need support to get going again, investing marketing, bringing people back, adding to workforces, because while there’s been hibernation and downsizing, once things are ready to go again we’re all going to need employees back to help with that,” Walshe noted.
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Source: traveldaily