Since November 2021, Australians have been allowed to travel to Singapore under the Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) arrangement. But there’s a lot more paperwork involved than in pre-COVID times, as I recently experienced when I travelled from Melbourne to Singapore in the first week of February 2022. This article explains the procedures I had to … Continued
Australia will finally reopen its international border to vaccinated tourists and anyone with an eligible visa to enter the country on 21 February 2022, almost two years since the border was closed at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The announcement was made today by Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews … Continued
In October 2021, the Australian government started issuing International COVID-19 Vaccination Certificates. The government’s Smartraveller website describes these as a “free and secure way to prove your COVID-19 vaccination history when you travel across borders overseas”. There’s just one problem – many other countries don’t recognise it. Generally, most other countries will accept an Australian … Continued
Travelling overseas in early 2022 is nothing like it was just a few years ago. Australia’s international border has partially reopened, but there are unfortunately still some huge risks involved with jetting off abroad. Constantly changing testing requirements, border rules and flight cancellations are all parts of the problem. But perhaps the biggest risk is … Continued
NSW and Victoria are winding back the quarantine requirements for international arrivals introduced several weeks ago due to heightened concerns about the Omicron coronavirus variant. The Australian government has also repealed its ban on international travel from nine African countries and downgraded its “Do not travel warning” for these destinations. It comes as Virgin Australia … Continued
If you’re an Australian aged 18 or over and you’ve received both doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, make sure you claim your Qantas vaccination reward and enter the Qantas & Velocity Frequent Flyer competitions by the end of this month! Both Qantas and Virgin Australia are giving away prizes to Australians who’ve been vaccinated against … Continued
As the rest of Australia reopens to interstate and international travellers, the Western Australian government has just halved the weekly cap on the number of people allowed to arrive from overseas to only 265 people per week. Currently, WA is only accepting 530 people arriving from overseas each week, who must enter 14 days of … Continued
Norfolk Island has today reopened to vaccinated travellers from New South Wales, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory, marking a huge boost for the island’s tourism industry and welcome news for tourists. From today, fully vaccinated travellers from these states & territories will be allowed to travel to the island with a negative COVID-19 PCR … Continued
Australia has banned non-citizens who have been in nine African countries during the past 14 days from entering the country amid concerns over the new Omicron coronavirus variant, which the WHO has classified a “variant of concern”. NSW, Victoria and the ACT have also re-introduced self-isolation requirements for travellers arriving from all overseas countries. The … Continued
Update (21 December 2021): The New Zealand government has delayed the resumption of travel from Australia (with home quarantine) until the end of February 2022. The MIQ stay length has also been increased from 7 to 10 days. Air New Zealand has cancelled most flights to/from Australia until March 2022. New Zealand will start to … Continued
If you’re travelling overseas over the coming months, your destination country may require you to get a COVID-19 test before departure. Some Australian states, including Queensland, may also require evidence of a negative COVID-19 test before you can travel interstate. The pre-flight COVID-19 testing rules are different for each destination. Some countries require a PCR … Continued
To return to Australia from overseas, you would need to get a negative COVID-19 PCR test within 72 hours of your flight home. But there’s an elephant in the room that most of the travel industry doesn’t want to talk about: What happens if your test result is positive? Since Australia introduced the pre-flight testing … Continued
