After more than two years of closed borders, New Zealand finally welcomed back visitors and loved ones. The first travelers and returning New Zealanders touched down in Aotearoa yesterday to a scene of Maori songs, tearful hugs, and a big, famous chocolate bar.
Vaccinated international visitors can now enter the country if they take a negative pre-departure Covid test. Once they arrive, they must self-test for Covid, and then they are okay to leave their accommodation. If it comes back positive, there are requirements for quarantine and self-isolations.
Starting in October, all other international visitors will be allowed to enter the country, unless the government decides that it is safe to do so even earlier.
The tourism minister, Stuart Nash, greeted arrivals yesterday and said that while the country is not completely back to normal, reopening to travelers was a step towards it. He said this was a long time coming.
There are 60 visa-waiver countries that can now enter New Zealand as part of its reopening plan, including the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, and others.
More than 30,000 people are arriving in New Zealand every week. It is still well below pre-Covid pandemic levels, however, which saw about 25,000 people enter the country every day. What is higher than pre-Covid times, however, are flight searches to go to New Zealand, which are now up 19 percent than before Covid.
New Zealand’s policy of no travelers meant that many New Zealanders were unable to return to their own country for a lot of Covid. The borders were completely closed for about two years, apart from a very short stint when New Zealand and Australia formed a travel bubble.
Many New Zealanders stranded abroad grew increasingly frustrated and heartbroken over the quarantine system, because the quarantine isolation facilities were extremely expensive and nearly impossible to secure a spot in.
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