Australian Minister of Tourism: International travel may open in 2021

International travel may resume as early as June and plans to resume overseas flights to Australia in mid-2021.

According to Australia.com.cn, as the epidemic in Australia improves, the federal and state governments have begun to consider opening up outbound travel and allowing more temporary visa holders to return to Australia.

Australian Tourism Minister: Outbound tourism may be opened in 2021, reiterating the priority policy for Australians

According to the "Daily Telegraph" report on the 22nd, Australia's Federal Minister of Tourism Birmingham said that Australia may open international travel in 2021. However, the Federal Government still stated that it will not consider allowing international students to enter Australia until Australian citizens stranded overseas return to Australia.

Birmingham said Australia will re-examine the issue of international border blockades before waiting for further information on the success of vaccines and how they will be produced and promoted. He said: "I hope we can see success in vaccines and their effectiveness." Birmingham said that he also expects international travel to resume in 2021, but he also warned that this is unlikely to be achieved in the beginning of 2021. . He said: "I think the first half of 2021 will still be challenging."

In addition, Ninth News reported on the 23rd that Qantas CEO Joyce also revealed that international travel may resume as early as June and plans to resume overseas flights to Australia in mid-2021. Joyce said that their plan is to start and operate a "large amount" of international business in the next fiscal year. However, these plans also need to depend on the availability of vaccines.

New Victoria has big moves in both states

"The Times" reported on the 22nd that Victoria Governor Andrew reiterated that Victoria will restart the hotel isolation plan on December 7 and will give priority to Australians returning from overseas. At the same time Andrew also said that his government will "do everything it can" to resume enrollment of international students in early 2021. He said: "I think the answer is yes. We will definitely pick up international students, but the specific number, when will we start picking up, whether we can catch up with the semester resumption time and other details, we need to discuss more."

"Sydney Morning Herald" reported on the 22nd that NSW Governor Barry Jacqueline recently stated that he hopes to use one-third of the state’s hotel quarantine population to pick up international students and skilled immigrants back to Australia, and plans to start implementation as early as six weeks. This move will reduce the number of overseas Australians returning home through NSW. She said: "New South Wales wants to see measures to boost our economy, not just returning Australians. We hope to start acting as soon as possible, but it obviously depends on whether the federal government allows us to do so."