Heart breaking.
That’s what the decision to push out the opening of the border and self-isolation option for travellers for another six weeks is going to mean says Justin Tighe-Umbers, executive director of the Board of Airline Representatives of New Zealand.
“The hundreds of people who have booked to come home from Australia from mid-January are now faced with rolling the dice to try and get a MIQ room and then spending the first 10 days of a holiday locked down or seeing if they can reschedule their flight sometime in March,” says Justin.
“The Kiwis who have already left to see family overseas on the hope of self-isolating when they return home face the same problems.
“BARNZ is disappointed in the decision to delay opening the border, but understands why it has been taken. Apart from the effect on families and people who haven’t been able to see each other for nearly two years, it’s a huge blow to the tourism sector. It’s a massive setback as operators seek to recover a little through the summer season.
“Exhausted airline staff will again face rebooking travellers or sorting credits and rescheduling aircraft and crews. Simply put, the domino effect of the Government’s decision is extensive.”
Justin says it is critical that the Government closely watches what happens overseas with the Omicron variant. There needs to be an open mind if overseas experience show that New Zealand’s health system is unlikely to be put under pressure by the new variant.
“Despite record cases New South Wales is continuing with plans to open up its border from Tuesday.
"Along with Victoria, it has scrapped its requirement for international arrivals to self-isolate for 72 hours.
"The early signs are good – hospitalisations are not increasing anywhere near the rate of cases.”
Justin says clarity also needs to be urgently given so that Kiwis around the world who are booked to fly home after February 14 know when they will be able to enter New Zealand MIQ free.
After the emergence of the Omicron variant, Willie Walsh, the International Air Transport Association’s director general, says governments should stop causing fear among the travelling public.
"As quickly as possible we must use the experience of the last two years to move to a coordinated data-driven approach that finds safe alternatives to border closures and quarantine,” he says.
“Travel restrictions are not a long-term solution to control COVID variants."
