Tourism "bubble" revives Indonesia's "smokeless industry"

 Tourism "bubble" revives Indonesia's "smokeless industry"

On February 21, Australia fully opened its borders to international tourists after nearly 2 years of closure due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

International passengers arrived at Melbourne Airport on the morning of February 21 (Image: REUTERS)

More than 50 international flights are expected to arrive in the country today, including 27 landing at Sydney International Airport, as the tourism and hospitality sectors are trying to recover from the impacts of the pandemic. restrictions to prevent Covid-19. According to the latest decision of the Australian Government, international arrivals who have received basic vaccines will not have to be isolated, but those who have not been vaccinated will still have to be isolated.

Speaking to reporters on the island of Tasmania, which is heavily dependent on tourism, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said: "Today is a wonderful day, a day that I have been looking forward to for so long, since the day I last first made the decision to close the border at the beginning of the pandemic.”

Since this morning, international airports in Australia have also witnessed emotional reunions. Sue Witton, who hasn't seen her son in two years, broke down when she saw her son Simon again.

“Seven hundred and twenty-four days apart and today is the world to me. …. I'm grateful, so very grateful," Ms Sue told reporters at Melbourne airport.

Tourism is one of Australia's largest industries, worth more than A$60 billion ($43 billion) and employing around 5% of the country's workforce. But the sector was crippled after the country closed its borders in March 2020 to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

This morning, Australian Tourism Minister Dan Tehan was at Sydney Airport to welcome the first international guests with gifts of Australia's iconic Vegemite spice and stuffed koalas.

Australia's Tourism Minister expressed his hope for a "very strong" recovery of the tourism market. Qantas is expected to bring more than 14,000 travelers to Australia this week. Meanwhile, Virgin Australia said it is seeing positive signals from the domestic booking market and continues to assess demand for international flights.

Once a leader in the strategy to prevent Covid-19, Australia switched from a "zero-Covid" strategy to living with Covid-19 late last year after achieving a high vaccination rate (more than 94% of the population). people over 16 years old have had 2 doses of basic vaccine). From the end of November 2021, Australia has gradually allowed high-skilled immigrants, fully vaccinated international students to enter.

With borders fully reopened, the outbreak of the Omicron variant in Australia appears to have peaked, with hospitalizations falling steadily over the past three weeks. Australia recorded about 2.7 million cases of Covid-19, most of which were recorded during the appearance of the Omicron variant from the end of November 2021, with a total of 4,929 deaths.

"Reopening will strengthen Australia's reputation as an open economy and will make it easier to do business," said Steve Hughes, head of the Australian branch of commercial bank HSBC. for companies with international interests".