COVID travel restrictions: Where to holiday in Australia and overseas
The end of many border restrictions has NSW residents planning their next holiday — with South Australia and Tasmania set to be the next big destinations.
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When the borders finally come down, experts predict a flood of travellers desperate to escape NSW will head for locations such as the Barossa Valley, Tasmania and Victoria’s Great Ocean Rd.
Already, with the Apple Isle’s border opening to NSW on Friday, Sydneysiders have more travel options than they’ve had for months.
Australia’s rich, famous and beautiful are also flooding social media with their interstate travels — a trickle of people that tourism groups hope will soon turn into a flood.
Council of Australian Tour Operators chairman Dennis Bunnik said our state government has been very proactive in trying to keep borders open.
“The people of NSW are very lucky and that they are one of the first ones to be able to travel,” he said.
“Domestically South Australia and Tasmania will be the big destinations. The Barossa Valley, Kangaroo Island, The Great Ocean Rd — they will all be big attractions.”
Uncertainty still surrounds the Australian Grand Prix and the Australian Open in Melbourne.
Seven in10 Australians are looking to travel within the next 12 months, according to Pulse Panel research of 1262 respondents in September.
One in six intend their next trip to be international, which is about half the normal rate.
More than half intend to make their next trip a driving holiday.
Internationally, both Mr Bunnik and Accommodation Association CEO Dean Long believe Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and Japan would be the most likely markets to open at the end of this year or early next year.
Japan’s ski season starts in December and the island nation’s spectacular cherry blossoms start to pop around March.
“Another market to look out for is China, which is averaging 20 COVID-19 cases per day across 1 billion people, which is better than us,” Mr Long said.
“We are hoping at some point post-election that the bubble between Australia and New Zealand will change.”
Flight Centre CEO Graham Turner believes the NZ-Australian border will be open by Christmas, with North America, Europe and the UK sometime after that.
“There will be some quarantine coming back into the country though, possibly seven days at home,” he said.
“Once the borders open up it will become a bit of a flood.”
Sydney’s former Miss Universe Australia Renae Ayrris has been in South Australia, visiting Kangaroo Island and wine regions.
“Having the best time exploring Kangaroo Island (and trying all their wine — obviously),” she told her 248,000 Instagram followers.
“Such a beautiful part of the world.”
Home And Away actor Lincoln Lewis recently posted photos of his travels through the Northern Territory.
“What a trip! Just spent the week up in the incredible @ntaustralia shooting & co-hosting an episode of @10travlr with my mate @livphyland,” he said on Instagram.
“Was freakin insane experiencing the beautiful landscape & culture and I feel extremely lucky to have called it work.
“Thx for having us NT, I’ll definitely be back!”
Since state and territory border restrictions eased in September, Qantas has announced nine new airline routes across Australia.
They have included Sydney-Launceston, Port Macquarie-Brisbane, Canberra-Gold Coast and Sydney-Merimbula.
From 23 November, Qantas and Jetstar will operate more than 250 flights per week across five routes, offering travellers 48,000 seats between the two states.
“This compares with just 10 return flights per week operating between Melbourne and Sydney (the only route currently operating between NSW and VIC),” the company said in a statement earlier this week.
Around 25,000 seats were sold across both airlines in the first 48 hours of the announcement, with almost 17,000 of those between Sydney and Melbourne and the remainder between Melbourne and Ballina, and Melbourne and Newcastle.
Originally published as COVID travel restrictions: Where to holiday in Australia and overseas