'This means the world to me': Australia welcomes back international tourists after nearly two years
Cameras have captured the emotional moments of passengers arriving at Sydney airport, waving and hugging family members they have not seen for a long time
Australia has reopened its international border for the first time in almost two years, bringing joyful family reunions after some of the strictest pandemic measures of any democracy were lifted.
The country imposed some of the world’s toughest travel restrictions on its citizens and permanent residents in March 2020 to prevent them from bringing Covid-19 home.
The once quiet corridors in Sydney’s airport have now been filled by jubilant well-wishers greeting vaccinated travellers as they waved toy koalas and favourite Australian foods at them.
Sue Witton described her joy of being reunited at Melbourne's airport with her only son Simon, whom she has been separated from for 724 days.
"He is my only son and I am alone, so this means the world to me," Ms Witton said, as he expressed her gratitude for the relaxation of travel restrictions which have allowed her to enter the country again.
'This means the world to me,' Sue Witton said as she was finally reunited with her only son
Federal Tourism Minister Dan Tehan, meanwhile, was on hand to welcome the first arrivals on a Qantas flight from Los Angeles which landed at 6.20am local time.
The minister told Australia’s ABC News: “I think there’ll be a very strong rebound in our tourism market. Our wonderful experiences haven’t gone away.”
Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews said all travellers’ vaccination status would be checked before they arrived to avoid a repeat of Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic’s visa debacle.
Mr Djokovic was issued with a visa through an automated process before he left Spain to compete in the Australian Open in January, but was deported after he arrived in Melbourne because he was not vaccinated against Covid-19.
Tourism Australia managing director Phillipa Harrison said she expected tourist numbers would take two years to rebound to pre-pandemic levels.
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“This is a really great start,” she told the Associated Press.
“This is what the industry had been asking us for, you know, just give us our international guests back and we will take it from there.”
Double-jabbed visitors do not need to quarantine, but those who are unvaccinated must do so in a hotel for up to two weeks at their own expense.
On Monday, Qantas, a Sydney-based airline, was bringing in passengers from eight overseas destinations including Vancouver, Singapore, London and Delhi.
The airline’s chief executive Alan Joyce said bookings had been strong since the federal government announced two weeks ago that the country was relaxing restrictions.
“It has been tough two years for everybody in the tourism industry, but today is really one of the big steps on the way back to a full recovery so we are very excited about today,” Mr Joyce told Nine Network television.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison, meanwhile, said 1.2 million people had visas to enter Australia with 56 international flights due to touch down in the first 24 hours of the border reopening.
International students and skilled migrants were prioritised when the border restrictions were relaxed in November in response to an increasing vaccination rate among the Australian population.
Tourists from New Zealand, Japan and South Korea were also allowed in early.
Australian states and territories also have their own Covid-19 rules, with the strictest enforced by Western Australia state which covers a third of the island continent.