Impossible things happen when the time is right, or so they say. But around one year into the semi-self-imposed, semi-mandatory quarantine, we’re almost losing hope that the whole going-out-in-public-venue thing will re-emerge. That is, until New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced the April 19 opening of the 2 way Australia-New Zealand travel bubble. Yup, fishos, we can all look forward to reclaiming our freedom soon, to say the least.
Since its announcement, the Australia-New Zealand travel bubble continues to make headlines all over the world. Speculations about where the next bubble will open, travel tips, bucket lists of recommended activities to try, even lists of potential destinations to explore, the list of information that suddenly became available is endless.
Sure, as self-proclaimed lovers of the great outdoors with a bucket list of fishing trip plans on hold, we were just as happy with the Trans-Tasman quarantine-free travel arrangements. Just thinking about being able to land a tuna or a trout again, praying we don’t get busted off at the wrong moment is enough to get us going. But do we really understand what this piece of news entails?
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The third time’s the charm for the AUS-NZ travel bubble
Australia and New Zealand are not the first countries to attempt two-way cross-border freedom in the form of a travel bubble. Nor are they the most successful in containing the pesky virus that led to this mess. Many small island nations, particularly in the Pacific, have even better records.
This is not the first time that Australia and New Zealand attempted to open their borders either. There were two earlier attempts in the past year. However, both flaked on easing border restrictions following the sharp spike in the number of COVID-19 cases in neighboring Asian countries. Later on, all sorts of talks about travel arrangements between the two countries were held indefinitely.
Instead, both Australia and New Zealand resorted to a controlled state-by-state approach. With the newly-announced trans-Tasman bubble, both governments have decided that it is “the right time” to reestablish international bilateral relations that could signal the end of border closures.
The emergence of “new” travel bubble based tourism is a shot in the arm
It’s easy to trick ourselves into thinking that it is safe to roam around when governments ease up on the restrictions. But, as we all found out the hard way, as was the case in Hong Kong and the Philippines, easing restrictions before the right moment leads to botched-up attempts to break free from the global “viral” problem.
Yes, it can be really, really hard to block off dreams of traveling all over the world with the news of travel bubbles emerging. But as Ascend Asia’s head of consultancy Joanna Lu had said, the failed attempts made countries extra cautious about restarting travel bubble talks.
Sure, it sucks exponentially more now that Australia and New Zealand have their own little bubble of freedom, but now seems like the right time. It may be unfortunate that the rest of the world can’t be out and about yet, but the situation in Australia and New Zealand is a little different. With little or no Covid at all, and both nation’s ability to squash outbreaks before they take hold, gives us confidence that this will be a success. After all, as independent aviation analyst Brendan Sobie said, “I think we will eventually get there.”
Asia-Pacific flirts with travel bubbles the second time
Since last year, travel industry workers have all launched their requests to re-open the Pacific Islands travel bubble in an attempt to keep the tourism industry afloat. Needless to say, these attempts were shut down or ignored by the powers at be. Some of the reasons cited to justify the rejection of a Pacific bubble include the relatively poor healthcare systems and high pre-existing health conditions common among Pacific populations.
Instead, larger countries, including Australia and New Zealand, have been keeping an eye on their tropical island neighbors for a potential bubble expansion.
In an earlier statement, Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt was quoted saying, “While the South Pacific is right at the front of the next phase of the international travel bubble. There’s no timeframe.”
Now that the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines is underway and the Australia-New Zealand travel bubble has been launched, the emergence of Pacific travel bubbles also started to look up.
Taiwan, for one, is all set to open its first quarantine-free travel bubble agreement with Palau, one of Taipei’s diplomatic allies in the Pacific.
Singapore’s foreign ministry is also rumored to be discussing “mutual recognition of vaccination certificates and resumption of travel” with the Australian government.
Policy makers from the Pacific were also working out a way to revive international travel and resolve the issues shrouding their COVID-restricted tourism industry.
Even the World Bank has offered assistance by publishing a paper entitled, How could the Pacific restore international travel? to help the policy makers resolve issues regarding creation of a Pacific travel bubble. The report outlined the phased approach to opening up the Pacific, along with the benefits, potential pitfalls, and the less obvious risks that it entails.
Nevertheless, there is a high probability of success for the creation of a Pacific travel bubble as both Australia and New Zealand have already pledged to cover the expenses for COVID-19 vaccines in the region.
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Start planning your next adventure
Y’all would probably agree that we now may be able to start dreaming of our next island vacation. Especially right now that the two-way Australia-New Zealand travel bubble is in place.
This being the case, it seems now is the time to start planning your next fishing trip or dip at some remote tropical beach to ditch the shitty confinement blues brought by border closures.
We’re off to start our own list of special places to visit after escaping the clutches of coronavirus. So please, if you have any recommendations, feel free to share them with us!
