Australian travel off the cards until 2022
Lifting of international flight restrictions could be dependent on roll-out of Covid-19 vaccine
The Australian government has indicated it will maintain international travel restrictions until a Covid-19 vaccine has been widely distributed, a move set to have a prolonged impact on many Australians and British nationals. Josh Frydenberg, the treasurer, said: “International travel is assumed to remain largely closed off until late next year and then gradually return over time and a vaccine to be available around the end of 2021 is one of the assumptions.”
THE Australian government has indicated it will maintain international travel restrictions until a Covid-19 vaccine has been widely distributed, a move set to have a prolonged impact on many Australians and British nationals.
The government is considering various scenarios, with one forecast in the budget predicting a A$ 55 billion (£30.4 billion) hit to the economy unless a vaccine is available by 2021, partly due to the long-term absence of international tourism and foreign students.
The budget includes a A$231 million package to help Australia’s tourism industry promote domestic and business travel, clearly anticipating the absence of international visitors for the foreseeable future.
Data recently published by Tourism Research Australia show the tourism industry lost A$33.7 billion from January to June 2020. Fifty-three per cent of the loss is due to the drastic fall in international tourism, with fewer than 10,000 visitors arriving in Australia in the June quarter, down from 1.9 million during the same period in 2019.
Josh Frydenberg, the Australian treasurer, said: “International travel, includi ng by tourists and i nternational students, is assumed to remain largely closed off until late next year and then gradually return over time, and a vaccine to be available around the end of 2021 is one of the assumptions in the budget.”
An early vaccine is regarded as one rolled out from July 1, providing certainty to households and businesses while promoting consumption and investment. A June survey of 28 mostly US and Canadian vaccinology experts published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine found most were pessimistic a vaccine would be available before mid-2021, but thought September or October was achievable.
Australians wanting to leave the country also face difficulties. Chris Harris, who moved there in 1977 and has family in the UK, told The Daily Telegraph it was impossible to plan with any certainty. He said: “I try to go over every year to visit my mother … because of the uncertainty it is impossible to give her any commitment, and she’s quite distressed about it because she is 92.”
Anna Seaman, an Australian, has been living in London for six years and was last able to visit her family in Perth in February. “I got one of the last planes back before everything shut down,” she said. “Going home just doesn’t seem feasible at the moment, with two weeks quarantine and having to pay two grand for it. I would like to be able to go home early next year.” Adam Bennett and his partner came to Australia from the UK on working holiday visas in April last year and stayed with an employer’s sponsorship.
“We had intended to head back in July of 2021 for my partner, as she hasn’t seen her parents since we left, so it is difficult for her,” he said. “Luckily, we had not booked anything, so we didn’t suffer from cancelled flights and we do love it here in Perth so that helps.”
Australia has allowed for an earlier vaccine roll-out with doses manufactured locally under deals struck with two pharmaceutical companies.
If trials prove successful, the University of Oxford/astrazeneca and the University of Queensland/csl will provide more than 84.8 million doses for Australians, almost entirely manufactured in Melbourne, with early access to 3.8 million doses of the Oxford vaccine in January and February 2021.
The government has committed to make any vaccine available for free to Australia’s population of 26 million.