Travel industry in ecstasy over border announcement with international tourists allowed to visit from February 21

Champagne corks are popping throughout the aviation and travel industry on news that international tourists can visit Australia from February 21.

Sydney International Airport is set to get a lot busier from February 21 when borders reopen to foreign tourists and business travellers. Picture: Tim Hunter

Travel and aviation industry leaders are popping the champagne after the Prime Minister announced international tourists and business travellers would be welcomed into Australia from February 21, ending a two-year ban.

The announcement followed repeated calls from industry leaders to open up, with Qantas boss Alan Joyce pointing out it made no sense to keep fully vaccinated tourists shut-out given high levels of Covid transmission in the eastern states.

On Monday, Mr Joyce said the decision meant Australia was “finally back open for business”, adding Qantas would examine its schedules for opportunities to restart flights from more international destinations sooner, or add capacity to routes already operating.

Meanwhile, travel companies were among the best performers on the local sharemarket.

Four of the top 10 performers in the S&P/ASX 200 were travel stocks, with Flight Centre up 7.8 per cent, Corporate Travel up 7 per cent, Qantas up 4.6 per cent and Webjet up 6.2 per cent.

Outside of the ASX200, Helloworld Travel rose 10 per cent and Regional Express leapt 14 per cent.

It came after Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the border will reopen to tourists from February 21, following a meeting of the National Security Committee of Cabinet.

“I know the tourism industry will be looking forward to that and over the next two weeks they’ll get the opportunity both for visitors to be coming and for them to be gearing up to welcome international visitors back to Australia,” the Prime Minister said.

Mr Joyce said the announcement was “fantastic news for our people and our customers”.

“There are a lot tourism operators in city centres and the regions that have been doing it really tough over the past couple of years and this will see more tourists come to their town, spend money and get local economies going again,” said Mr Joyce.

“We know there are lots of international tourists who want to come to Australia. There are also a lot of business travellers who will finally be able to be in the same room as their customers or local teams after almost two years apart. This means they can now book to come here with confidence.”

The body representing international airlines, BARA, also welcomed the reopening date in two weeks time.

BARA executive director Barry Abrams said it meant that finally airlines could fill their cabins after almost two years of operating near empty aircraft.

“We would note that we don’t as yet have a simplified and consistent framework across all states and territories as to the requirement for international tourists coming into Australia,” said Mr Abrams.

“We would like to see that addressed as quickly as possible and a uniform approach taken by all jurisdictions.”

Flight Centre managing director James Kavanagh said the move was an “absolute game changer” for the corporate travel industry, after a difficult two years.

“It has been a long time coming but the critical part is once we open to the world, we stay open, and that will naturally inject real confidence into people wanting to travel,” said Mr Kavanagh.

“Confidence is already rising in the leisure space across the world – now it is time for that happen in the corporate space.”

Brisbane Airport Corporation CEO Gert-Jan de Graaff said he was ecstatic at the news which would give certainty to airports, airlines, tourism operators and travellers.

Sharing his joy was Australian Tourism Export Council managing director Peter Shelley who said all travel businesses would rejoice in the news international travellers could visit Australia from February 21.

“It’s been a long hard and desperate road for every tourism business across the country and we have lost many along the way, but this news will give those who have survived a clear target to work towards and a start point for the rebuilding of the industry,” said Mr Shelley.

“With close to two years with our borders closed our industry has lost tens of billions of dollars in export revenue and we welcome the border reopening as an opportunity to regain some of Australia’s tourism market share.”

Cairns tourism operator Ben Woodward said they might not be able to afford champagne, but the budget would extend to a good sparkling wine to celebrate the news.

The region was among the hardest hit by the two-year absence of international visitors with domestic tourists only partially filling the void.

“We’ve not only got a date but it’s sooner than we hoped for,” said Mr Woodward.

“We thought the best case scenario would be April 1. We’re not expecting the floodgates to open on February 21 but hopefully by April, May, June we will be seeing some decent volumes of international visitors.”