While there is talk of relaxed restrictions on international travel for vaccinated Australians, there are several barriers preventing us from going overseas anytime soon. Photo: James Brickwood
Have you packed your bags? Are you ready to dance out the door, looking forward to a train ride through the Swiss Alps or a cold-smoked salmon bagel at Russ & Daughters on Manhattan’s Lower East Side?
Perhaps you could if you read the report in the Australian edition of The guard on Tuesday, on news that Minister of Health and Elderly Care Greg Hunt has unveiled a proposal to allow vaccinated Australians to travel abroad and return with less restrictive quarantine conditions.
“The modeling started on Monday and a pilot program could begin in six to eight weeks,” the report quoted the minister as saying. This seems to open up the tempting possibility of vacation trips to countries other than New Zealand as early as mid-July or early August.
Get well soon for the minister’s intentions but while I hate playing spoilsport there are several reasons why it is unlikely to happen within this timeframe. When the time finally comes, it will be more of a trickle than an escape out the door.
Travel zones
Australia seems to be following the same path as the British traffic light system, dividing the world into green, yellow and red zones and classifying incoming passengers according to the zone from which they come. At the moment New Zealand is the only country in the green zone. Anyone who has stayed in New Zealand for at least 14 days prior to their flight to Australia can enter without quarantine.
The Australian government classifies the rest of the world as a red zone and arriving travelers must be quarantined for 14 days upon arrival.
In order to make the dream of traveling abroad without quarantine on return come true, the government must determine which countries can be relocated from the red zone and join New Zealand in the green zone or the yellow zones. Returning from the Amber Zone would likely require pre- and post-arrival testing in Australia and possibly the need for home or specific quarantine.
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One risk for travelers is an increase in infection rates that could cause a country to be downgraded from green or yellow to red. Anyone returning to Australia from this country would be placed in a 14-day quarantine upon arrival.
Airfares
Air travel costs have skyrocketed. A round-trip economy class flight from Melbourne to Los Angeles, departing in late July and returning in mid-August, costs over $ 2,800 onboard Japan’s ANA, one of the cheapest options. The price of a one-week flight to Singapore in August from Sydney and back with Singapore Airlines is over 2200 US dollars. A round-trip economy class flight from Sydney to the UK on Singapore Airlines, which departs in late July and returns in early August, costs around $ 4,300. A return flight to the UK aboard Qatar Airways starts at around $ 2,800, but since the UK views Qatar as a red zone, even transit through these passengers prohibits entry into the UK.
Where could we go
Singapore is the most promising New Zealand candidate on Australia’s Green Zone list. With the exception of residents of Victoria, Australians can apply for an Air Travel Pass that allows entry into Singapore for up to seven days. It is not an open door policy. Applicants must submit health data, perform a COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test on arrival, and book accommodation for up to two days while they wait for their test result.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison is expected to visit Singapore on June 10, 2021 on the way to a G7 summit in Britain to guide leaders on Australia’s relapse into climate change. If the travel bubble in Singapore inflates, several South Pacific islands could be next on the list.
Even if Australia relaxed its quarantine restrictions on travelers returning from “safe” countries, much of the world would be closed to us.
Our second most popular destination, Indonesia, is closed to foreigners for vacation travel, as is Vietnam. Thailand welcomes foreign visitors, but those who are fully vaccinated must also be quarantined for seven days.
Australia is one of only a handful of countries on the UK’s Green Zones list. This will allow Australian residents to enter the UK without quarantine, provided they take a pre-flight COVID-19 test and another test within two days of arriving in the UK. However, if they are traveling through a red zone country – and both the UAE and Qatar – even if it is just a layover without leaving the airport, they must be quarantined for 10 days. This leaves Singapore, another country on the UK’s Green Zones list, as the logical transit point for a one-stop flight to the UK.
The conditions for entry into the US are relatively easy for Australian residents. Show evidence of a negative COVID-19 test taken no more than 72 hours before your flight departure and you’re in.
Anyone coming from Australia can travel to France as long as they take a pre-flight PCR test, self-isolate for seven days upon arrival, and do another PCR test at the end of that period. Arriving in France via the United Arab Emirates or Qatar does not affect your entry unless you have left the international zone of the airport during your transfer stop. No travel from the UK to France is possible without “urgent reasons to travel” and includes an obligation to self-isolate for seven days after arrival.
Italy imposes similar conditions on Australian residents, with a longer self-isolation period of 10 days and daily health surveillance during this time.
Vaccine rollout
Preliminary reports suggest the government would only allow fully vaccinated travelers to enjoy relaxed quarantine on return. To date, 4.2 million doses of vaccine have been given in Australia, but most patients who received the vaccine have only received one dose. In early June, the government announced the start of the second dose campaign for AstraZeneca. Since the Pfizer vaccine is also given in two doses, but in a much tighter three-week timeframe, the percentage of fully vaccinated Australians should rise rapidly by the end of July.
Travel insurance
Travel insurance is back on the rise, and some insurers are now offering coverage tailored for possible disruptions and additional medical protection that might be required during the pandemic. The usual reservation applies. If there is a “Do not travel” notice on the Smartraveller website, travel insurance does not cover you – currently it is everywhere except New Zealand.
See also: Australia should adopt the UK approach to international travel
See also: What most people do not understand about our international border debate
