Australia fully reopens borders to the world for the first time since March 2020
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Feb 21, 2022 10:12
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Australia has finally reopened international borders today to vaccinated tourists without quarantine requirements for the first time since 9pm on Friday March 20, 2020.
While the federal government has gradually reopened to select visa holders, international students and backpackers over the past six months from today international tourists, business travellers, family and friends will be welcomed back to Australia once again without needing to spend time in a quarantine facility upon arrival.
There were tearful reunions at Sydney Airport on Monday as hundreds of people began arriving on flights.
"It is a very exciting day, one that I have been looking forward to for a long time, from the day that I first shut that border right at the start of the pandemic," Prime Minister Scott Morrison told reporters.
Australians and foreign tourists will not need a booster to enter Australia. Travellers, however, will still be required to have had two doses of an approved Covid-19 vaccine. However unvaccinated travellers must do so in a hotel for up to 14 days at their own expense.
Tourism is one of Australia's biggest industries, worth more than A$60 billion ($43 billion) and employing about 5% of the country's workforce. But the sector was crippled after the country shut its borders in March 2020.
