FIJI PREPARES TO SAY BULA!

After being closed for nearly two years during the COVID-19 pandemic, Fiji will reopen to international visitors on December 1. The country, which will be ready to safely welcome travellers back after reaching the milestone of 80 per cent of its eligible population being fully vaccinated, will still have some travel requirements in place to provide a level of assurance to both visitors and its residents.

Travellers can book and travel in confidence with the destination-wide Care Fiji Commitment – a World Health Organisation-approved standard of best practice health and safety measures for travel in a post-COVID world. Every person in Fiji that visitors interact with on their holiday, be it resorts, transportation or experiences, will be fully vaccinated and every tourism business will have a dedicated Wellness Ambassador responsible for keeping everybody safe.

Requirements include being a fully vaccinated traveller from a “travel partner” country (defined as one with high vaccination rates and low-test positivity rates, such as Australia), providing a negative PCR test taken less than three days prior to departure from home country, and fulfilling any obligation to take an additional test prior to returning home, based on individual home country requirements. Unvaccinated children under the age of 18 will be able to travel to Fiji accompanied by a vaccinated adult. Travel insurance is highly recommended.

Fiji's national airline, Fiji Airways, will also officially resume flights for fully vaccinated international travellers from December

1. It will start with twice daily flights from Sydney, a 3.5-hour flight from the capital, Nadi. Daily flights from Melbourne and Brisbane are also scheduled to resume. The airline is offering exclusive package holidays with luxury resorts at prices up to 45 per cent less than than 2019 rates.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison recently stated that once home quarantine pilots in NSW and South Australia are completed, states and territories with an 80 per cent double-dose vaccination rate will roll out sevenday home quarantine for fully vaccinated Australian citizens and permanent residents returning from overseas.