In front of the check-in kiosks at Sydney International Airport on Monday April 19, Sue Grocott swings between laughter and tears. In a few hours, she will land in Auckland and meet her one-year-old grandson for the first time. Australia and New Zealand, whose international borders have been closed since March 2020, inaugurated, the same morning, a “travel bubble” which allows the inhabitants of the two countries to travel to either side of the country. Tasman Sea without compelling reasons or hotel quarantine. “The start of a new chapter in our response to Covid-19 and for our recovery”, welcomed the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, on April 6.
The two antipodean neighbors, who have adopted a zero tolerance strategy towards SARS-CoV-2, have succeeded in eradicating the circulation of the virus on their territory and returning to normal life – without masks and with very little physical distancing measures – but at the cost of unprecedented isolation. For more than a year, their borders have been closed to non-resident foreigners and any person arriving on their soil is subject to quarantine, compulsory and paid, in a hotel.
In Australia, nationals can, moreover, leave their country only in case of essential reasons, after having obtained a derogation from the authorities. Since October 2020, Canberra had opened its territory to New Zealanders, but the converse was not true and Wellington had maintained the fortnight measures for “Kiwis” returning to the archipelago following a stay on the island- continent.
In New Zealand, relaunching tourism
After repeatedly rejecting the prospect of establishing a health corridor, the New Zealand government finally ruled in early April that ” the risk [était] as low as possible ”. Now citizens of both countries can move freely and without prior testing. But this “bubble” can be immediately suspended if cases of unknown origin are discovered on either side of the Tasman Sea.
Hundreds of people crowded into Sydney Airport on Monday. “I will finally be able to find my daughter. We are all part of the same big family. I would never have thought that the border between our two countries would one day be closed ”, says Diana, retired. Australian companies Qantas and Jetstar hope to operate up to 122 flights per week. Air New Zealand up to 300.
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