Avalon Airport could be key to Aussies’ post-coronavirus travel to New Zealand
Kiwis could be flying in and out of Geelong within months as part of a bold plan to bolster tourism in the region, making the most of a proposed trans-Tasman travel bubble. Here’s how it would work.
HS Coronavirus News
Don't miss out on the headlines from HS Coronavirus News. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Kiwis could be flying in and out of Geelong within months as part of a bold plan to bolster tourism in the region, making the most of a proposed trans-Tasman travel bubble.
Avalon chief executive Justin Giddings wanted to turn the airport into a hub for travel to and from New Zealand to bring jobs and travellers back to regional Victoria.
“It would see the check-in staff, the baggage handlers, back in jobs,” he said.
“It would also bring tourism back to the region.
“People will be itching to travel back and forth.”
Under current border measures, Australians returning to Victoria from overseas land at Tullamarine and are then moved into hotel quarantine.
Mr Giddings said putting all arrivals from New Zealand though the same airport could do a lot to improve consumer confidence so they were not mingling with other overseas arrivals.
“It would be a far easier experience to manage, a far less risky environment,” he said.
Deputy Labor leader Richard Marles backed the plan and said he was also hopeful Avalon could reopen to domestic flights to “once again encourage the more than 4.4 million Australians who would visit the Geelong, Bellarine and Great Ocean Road regions each year”.
The impact of the virus on tourism businesses around Geelong and the Bellarine Peninsula has been extreme, with about a quarter reporting they were operating at less than 10 per cent of normal trade.
Chief executive of Tourism Greater Geelong and The Bellarine Brett Ince told the Herald Sun some had gone into ‘hibernation’, but it was unclear how many would return.
He said an influx of visitors from across the Tasman would help.
“New Zealand would be an absolute game changer,” he said.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern last week said she and Prime Minister Scott Morrison were “working away” to make the deal happen.
MORE NEWS
MASTERCHEF’S BEN UNGERMANN CHARGED WITH SEXUAL ASSAULT