Australia will not welcome international tourists until 2022, despite expectations of opening the external borders sometime Tuesday, the country’s prime minister announced.
While Prime Minister Scott Morrison called international tourists an “important priority,” he said the main “priority is Australians,” with a particular focus on allowing Australian citizens, vaccinated Australian residents, skilled migrants, and students into the country.
“We will get to international visitors as well, I believe next year,” Morrison said.
WHAT’S HAPPENING IN AUSTRALIA WILL HAPPEN IN THE US IF WE, TOO, LOSE THE PLOT ON COVID
The news comes a few days after Morrison announced Australia plans to lift the November travel ban for vaccinated Australians wanting to leave the country, meaning vaccinated Australians will be allowed to travel abroad next month for the first time since March 2020.
The Australian Tourism Export Council said it hopes the country will welcome foreign tourists back by March, as many tourism-related businesses are barely hanging on. Before the pandemic, the council was bringing in 45 billion Australian dollars, the equivalent of nearly $33 billion in the United States.
Universities in Australia, which rely on fees from international students, were hit especially hard during the pandemic after international students were not allowed to travel to the universities. Prior to the emphasis on international students, universities feared students would withdraw from schools if the ban was not lifted soon. Those permitted to travel to Australia must quarantine for two weeks in a hotel upon arrival.
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Several cities in Australia, such as Sydney, Melbourne, and Canberra, have gone into lockdown amid the spread of the highly transmissible delta variant.
Australia has experienced 115,800 cases of COVID-19, with 1,357 deaths attributed to the disease, according to the Johns Hopkins University coronavirus tracker.
