South Australia reopens its borders to Tasmania

South Australia has reopened its borders to Tasmanians, but Premier Peter Gutwein has encouraged holiday-makers to stay at home for some “unique experiences” instead. DETAILS >>

PREMIER Peter Gutwein has shot down the chance to launch an immediate travel bubble between Tasmania and South Australia.

It comes amid mounting pressure for Tasmania to reopen its borders with $65 billion up for grabs in tourism dollars that Australians would usually spend on overseas trips.

With international borders set to remain closed until later this year – if not 2021 – the race is on for states to capture some of the pent-up travel demand.

Federal Tourism Minister Simon Birmingham will today call on Australians to do their “patriotic duty” to inject money back into the struggling economy by holidaying at home this year.

SA announced yesterday it would reopen its borders to Tasmania, Western Australia and the Northern Territory from midnight, before fully relaxing border restrictions to all states on July 20.

Mr Gutwein has been in talks with SA, and the ACT, about resuming flights to Adelaide and launching new flights to Canberra before fully reopening Tassie’s borders. 

But he rejected the opportunity to resume travel to SA this week, saying he would announce a date for lifting the state’s borders on June 26. 

Sherelee Davies, of Hobart, is excited to travel to South Australia to visit her mum and siblings once border restrictions are lifted. Picture: Zak Simmonds

Mr Gutwein said he expected borders to open “late July, all things going well”.

“Of course we look forward to the time when our border restrictions can ease and we can welcome visitors back to explore beautiful Tasmania,” he said.

“Until then our focus remains on a gradual easing of our broader restrictions to ensure we’re well placed to manage any risk associated with coronavirus.”

In a major speech today, Minister Birmingham will say there is “enormous opportunity” to help revive the economy if Australians holiday at home while international borders remain closed.

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Aussies spent a whopping $65.2 billion on trips overseas in 2019 – significantly more than the $45 billion international tourists spent on travelling to Australia.

Tasmanians alone spent $854 million on overseas travel, opening up a massive opportunity to inject that money back into the state this year.

“For those Australians who can afford to do so, we want them to feel an almost patriotic duty to get out and support the jobs and small businesses of their fellow citizens by having whatever Aussie holiday they can,” Senator Birmingham will tell the National Press Club in Canberra.

“That could mean instead of the museums of Europe, it could be MONA, and instead of wine tasting in the Loire Valley, it could be the Tamar Valley.”

The State Government will focus on encouraging travel within Tasmania for now, before trying to increase the state’s share of mainland visitors.

“Just last week, I announced a statewide campaign encouraging Tasmanians to travel around our state and to take advantage of Tasmania’s high quality and unique experiences and to support the economic recovery of tourism and hospitality businesses over the next year,” Mr Gutwein said.