NZ Travel Industry Gearing Up For Post-Pandemic Recovery

Wednesday, 31 March 2021, 1:34 pm
Press Release: Kalkine

The COVID-19 pandemic has certainly disrupted the popular trend of domestic and international travel, threatening the travel industry like never before. The industry suffered a multi-billion-dollar loss of revenue after international borders closed and overseas travel screeched to a halt.

While the pandemic is still inflicting some pain upon the tourism businesses, the sector seems to be recovering from the terrifying phase of muted travel demand and unprecedented travel restrictions. Some encouraging signs of a comeback are reigniting hopes of the sector’s sooner-than-expected revitalisation.

Let us quickly gaze through these green shoots that are pointing towards a brighter horizon for the battered travel sector:

Potential Boost to Trans-Tasman Bubble

Paving the road for the two-way trans-Tasman travel bubble, Australia has lifted the ban on overseas travel to New Zealand. The Australian government has made changes to the emergency biosecurity laws, which will enable the people who had been living in the country for at least fourteen days to travel directly to Kiwi Land for any reason.

As per the nation’s travel restrictions imposed around one year back in response to the pandemic, Aussies were required to apply for an exemption before leaving the country. However, an exemption is no longer required for New Zealand.

Australia has made the amendment at a time when the trans-Tasman travel bubble is finally in the offing. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is expected to reveal the start date for the much-discussed trans-Tasman bubble on 6 April 2021. The move is anticipated to give a leg up to international travel between the two neighbouring countries as soon as the travel bubble comes into force.

Resurgence in Domestic Travel

A fresh wave of optimism has swept across the travel industry following the release of encouraging update on domestic travel. Air New Zealand has recently announced the restoration of domestic business travel to 90 per cent of pre-COVID-19 levels.

Bucking a downward trend in several other nations with more serious coronavirus outbreaks, the domestic business travel has recovered to near normal levels. The airline initially hoped to return to 70 per cent of pre-COVID-19 levels in 2022.

The success of this recovery can be attributed to Air New Zealand’s dedicated measures implemented to stimulate domestic travel. The airline added more business-timed flights and seats, brought on more crew, and lowered top fares to meet increased demand.

The latest figures represent a striking rebound for New Zealand, given leading industry groups across the globe anticipate business travel to take years to recoup from the pandemic repercussions. Besides, the results reflect the preserved strength of the country’s domestic travel market despite virus-induced headwinds.

Possible Travel Bubble with Cook Islands

The two-way travel bubble between New Zealand and the Cook Islands can soon become a reality. Kiwi Land expects to commence a quarantine free travel with the Cook Islands in May this year following a large-scale vaccination campaign in the Islands.

Currently, a one-way travel arrangement exists between New Zealand and Rarotonga that allows quarantine-free travel from the Cook Islands to Kiwi Land. This travel bubble has been operational since the end of January 2021. However, the lack of a two-way bubble means fewer jobs and no tourists to the Cook Islands, which is totally reliant on tourism to generate revenue for the economy.

Over the coming weeks, New Zealand will work with Cook Islands counterparts to speed up joint vaccination plan ahead of the travel bubble. Cooks has lately asked the Kiwi government to supply Pfizer coronavirus vaccines for its 17,000 plus citizens. The recent rollout of the new contact tracing application CookSafe+ by Cooks is further anticipated to strengthen travel opportunities for both nations.

No doubt, a slump in demand for international services and overseas border restrictions continue to weigh on the travel sector. While, a further recovery in domestic travel and progress in vaccine rollout can accelerate the post-pandemic revival of the COVID-hit travel industry.

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