'Safe' New Zealand to reopen borders early
16 Mar 2022 09:00am
"We're ready to welcome the world back," New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Arden - wires
Wellington - New Zealand will scrap its strict border controls early because the country's world-leading pandemic response has made it "a safe place to visit", Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Wednesday.
"We're ready to welcome the world back," Ardern told reporters.
"I'm proud that New Zealand is a country able at this moment in time to provide a safe place for our tourists to return to."
Ardern said that vaccinated Australians could visit without undergoing quarantine or self-isolation from April, rather than the July date originally planned.
Travellers from nations that have visa-free arrangements with New Zealand - including major markets in the Northern Hemisphere, Japan, Singapore, Korea and Taiwan -- will be allowed to do the same from May 1.
Ardern described the change as a major boost for New Zealand's struggling tourism industry.
"We are ready to safely move into a new chapter of our management of the pandemic, this change brings with it huge economic opportunities," she said.
New Zealand welcomed 3.9 million international arrivals in 2019 but borders closed in March 2020 as Covid-19 swept the world.
Tourism was New Zealand's biggest export earner before the pandemic, generating more than NZ$16 billion ($10.9 billion) annually, with 40 percent of holidaymakers coming from Australia.
