International visitors to be greeted back Down Under in unique Aussie ways

The first international visitors arriving in Sydney will be met by drag queens and a surf lifesaving crew, and given jars of Vegemite and toy koalas in a bid to welcome them back in unique Aussie ways.

Australia is open to tourists from Monday and the first visitors to ­arrive will be greeted in uniquely local fashion.

From a welcome by drag queens and a surf lifesaving crew to a goodie bag of Vegemite and toy koalas and kangaroos, there will be a party at Sydney Airport with a musical backdrop of a DJ playing Aussie hits of yesteryear.

When the first Qantas plane touches down at 6.30am staff will be on hand to welcome them with signs, flags and eucalyptus leaves, although a plan to have the Qantas choir to greet them has had to be abandoned because the airport did not grant approval.

At 10am they will be joined by drag queens from Destination NSW while volunteer surf life savers will also greet visitors while providing water safety information.

International visitors will be given jars of Vegemite as they arrive in Sydney for the first time in two years. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Damian Shaw

There will also be “Welcome” sign messages in English and the language of the Gamayngal people.

All across Australia 56 international flights are due to arrive in the first 24 hours after the borders re-open to tourists including 27 into Sydney, with planes coming from the USA, Canada, United Kingdom, Singapore, the UAE and Japan.

At present there are already 1.23 million people with student, visitor and working holiday visas for Australia, who will be allowed to enter if they are double vaccinated.

Tourism Minister Dan Tehan said the return of international arrivals was an important step in the nation’s recovery.

“Australia’s health and economic response to the pandemic has been among the best in the world, with one of the highest vaccination rates and low mortality,” he said.

He said as well Australians while Australians were already travelling overseas it was great to welcome international visitors again.

International flights to Australia will resume on Monday. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Gaye Gerard

“International tourists will come here to see our iconic attractions, sample our world-leading food and drink, learn about our Indigenous culture, and enjoy the Australian way of life,” he said.

“Australia is the best country in the world and we’re excited to be sharing it with the rest of the world again.”

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said the return of overseas visitors would provide a significant boost for NSW tourism, investment and trade.

“Millions of people around the world dream of visiting Sydney and our regional areas, it’s great to see the planes return and their dreams coming true,” he said.

“We are investing more than $530 million into the sector as part of our tourism and events recovery package. This ensures visitors get to experience the very best of what NSW has to offer.”

He said the return of fully vaccinated overseas travellers will give enormous momentum to the recovery.

Government figures show that since November, 92,000 visitors, 80,000 international students, 35,000 skilled visa holders and 5,600 Working Holiday Makers have arrived in Australia.

To coincide with the re-opening of the borders Tourism Australia last week launched a $40 million international marketing campaign to reinvigorate the industry which before the pandemic supported 660,000 jobs and contributed $60.4 billion to the economy.

Originally published as International visitors to be greeted back Down Under in unique Aussie ways