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On September 22, Mr. Dan Tehan - Australian Tourism Minister introduced a new plan that needs to be implemented to move the country towards the goal of reopening. According to him, the Australian government is preparing to implement this policy with one of the priority tasks being the domestic vaccination rate to exceed 80%.
"I really sympathise with those who have lost the opportunity to travel overseas this year," he said in an online chat hosted by the National Press Club of Australia. "That's why people should be vaccinated and we will continue to prepare for the opening of international borders, not until Christmas at the latest."
The nationwide vaccine rollout is so important that the Australian Tourism Council has created a special advertising campaign called "Our Best Travel Photo" to urge Australians to get vaccinated.
“We need to get our lives back to where they were – a time when we could see friends and family; return to work; send our children back to school; travel domestically and internationally again; and open up to the world with all that Australia has to offer,” Tourism Australia CEO Phillipa Harrion said at the campaign launch press conference.
As of September 22, about 38% of Australians have been fully vaccinated with two doses of Covid-19 vaccine. - Photo: Reuters
International visitors to Australia will need to prove they have been fully vaccinated with two doses before entering the country, and Australia is also planning to trial a “vaccine passport” with countries such as Japan and the US.
Previously, Qantas - Australia's national airline - also announced that they will gradually resume international flights from October.
Australia closed its borders to non-residents in March 2020 and introduced mandatory quarantine to severely limit the number of people arriving into Australia each week, while the Government also introduced regulations to prevent domestic residents from leaving the country.
