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A zero tolerance strategy in the face of Covid-19
Since March 2020, the international borders between Australia and New Zealand have been hermetically sealed. Like Taiwan, Singapore or South Korea, these two antipodean neighbors have chosen not to allow non-resident aliens to enter their territory and have also instructed their nationals to leave the country only. in the event of an essential reason. This strategy of zero tolerance vis-à-vis the virus ended up paying off since, according to the latest figures communicated by New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, when the bubble opened on April 20: “New Zealand has recorded 74 positive cases as of April 6, including 17 identified in the last 48 hours. In all, only 26 deaths have been recorded in the country since the start of the crisis. Australia, for its part, saw the city of Brisbane come out of containment on April 15 and 909 deaths have been recorded since the appearance of the first case. “
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A first parenthesis and a breath of fresh air
Between April 20 and Friday evening 23, many Australians were able to take advantage of this first corridor of freedom, certainly ephemeral, but bearing hope because it reveals the intention of these two great countries to relaunch their exchanges, when we knows that in 2019, in New Zealand, 40% of foreign visitors were Australians. In addition, even if the closure of this first bubble marks a halt to this strategy, Canberra had already imagined setting up other travel bubbles with various states in the region having succeeded in controlling the epidemic. It must be said that there is a real desire to reopen the country as soon as possible and to once again allow tourists wishing to come and request a visa Australia.
The Australian airlines Qantas and Jetstar already counted on this first bubble to operate a good hundred flights, Air New Zealand even bet up to 300 rotations. They will have to wait a few more weeks, the time for this new case of Covid to relieve the pressure.
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Finding avenues of hope to revive tourism
In New Zealand, we are counting heavily on the return of Australian travelers to revive tourism two months before the opening of ski resorts, especially as the country having taken a firm position of “Zero Covid”, announced no take no reckless risks for a more comprehensive reopening of its borders. And already, last year, in the midst of the epidemic, the country had assumed a huge shortfall with the absence of Chinese customers, usually very inclined to spend in the country.
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In Australia, if the ski resorts also had a bad season last year with reduced openings in most resorts, while waiting for the return of international customers, we are also banking on the revival of domestic tourism. Thus, the government offers tickets at half price in order to encourage its nationals to go on vacation and to discover their own territory. A budget of 1.2 billion Australian dollars (778,000 euros) has been released to subsidize some 800,000 plane tickets to thirteen destinations far from major cities such as the Great Barrier Reef, the sacred site for Aborigines of Uluru or the beaches of the Gold Coast.
The objective is obviously to support a highly affected international tourism sector, a sector which, before the pandemic, represented around 45 billion Australian dollars (30 billion euros) each year. The domestic tourism card therefore comes to the aid of this firmness on the international scene, joining there strategies already underway in many countries around the world, where we are increasingly turning to national customers to play the card. ‘domestic tourism.
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