Border rules must be simplified or tourist dollars will remain at risk

Bizarre border rules must be simplified or the campaign to get us spending tourist dollars will be ruined.

The campaign encouraging people to holiday in their backyard this year is a good one.

It’s also the only option given international borders are closed.

Trying to plan the trip, however, can feel like trying to solve a Rubik’s cube that changes colours every second move.

State and territories have been left to determine their own border restrictions during the coronavirus pandemic and you can see why.

Imagine trying to enforce a blanket set of rules from the Commonwealth without full state support.

Even so, the hotchpotch of rules and restrictions that are in place across this vast land are starting to get confusing at best and downright bizarre at worst.

The Holiday Here This Year campaign is great, but only if the states sort out their borders Picture: Jason Edwards

Let me take you to one example.

Perth is in lockdown until 6pm on February 5, due to concerns over a hotel quarantine worker testing positive.

Putting aside the severity of that reaction, the government website still insists Victorians can travel to Western Australia without self-isolating, from 12:01am on February 5.

Those travelling in the other direction won’t be so lucky, because Victoria has turned Perth into a red zone under its traffic light system.

Red means stop, so travellers can’t come to this great state unless they have an exemption (and must then isolate).

The Cumberland Shire in NSW is the only other area in a non-green zone for Victoria, and remains in amber.

But other states have eased those restrictions for moving through NSW.

And NSW will accept people from WA – although with self-isolation in place for Perth people – and Victoria.

Confused yet?

Victorians were caught in a mass exodus trying to flee NSW early in the new year. Picture: Alex Coppel

How other states react to news Victoria has a potential outbreak of COVID-19 linked to hotel quarantine again will be anyone’s guess as different governments seem to change their stance based on a variety of factors not just their public health team’s advice.

Will the fact an international tennis event is about to get underway colour their actions?

We’ve all been warned that travel will be thrown into chaos this year due to the pandemic.

Fair enough, it’s a nightmare virus and we’re lucky to be relatively unscathed in terms of the health impacts in 2021.

The focus will remain on keeping cases low and as close to zero as possible.

But the push to take trips locally – a national campaign as well as a huge desire of states desperate to prop up struggling tourism operators – will be massively undermined if governments can’t co-ordinate their actions and issue clear and early advice about how they’re likely to react to isolated cases.

At the moment there are people who have cash to spend but who also think it’s a bit too hard to plan a trip in advance.

The Holiday Here This Year campaign must be backed up by common sense rules that won’t put people off leaving their literal backyards.