New Zealand’s borders are fully open for the first time since they were abruptly closed to prevent Covid-19 in March 2020.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the nation was “open for business” after the final stage of the gradual reopening, which began in April, was completed on Sunday night.
Visitors from around the world will be allowed back into New Zealand, including sea arrivals, those on student visas and those from visa-exempt countries such as China and India.
Ardern said the reopening was “a huge moment” in a speech at the China Business Summit on Monday morning.
“It’s been a staged and cautious process on our part since February as we, along with the rest of the world, continue to manage a very live global pandemic, while keeping our people safe,” he said.
“New Zealanders are hosts. Blessings [hospitality] it flows through our veins and we open our arms to tourists and students, including from China, which before 2020 was New Zealand’s largest source of international students and second largest source of tourists.
“For those who want to make their journey here, never mind, we welcome you.”
Foreign cruise ships and pleasure yachts will also be able to dock at the country’s ports. Tourism Minister Stuart Nash said the return of cruise ships, whose guests spent NZ$365 million ashore a year before the pandemic, would be a big boost to local economies.
“The majority of cruise visits are during the warmer months of October to April … It will be full steam ahead for the industry, which can confidently plan for the rest of the year and beyond,” he said Nash in a statement.
Tour operators, businesses and education providers have welcomed the news, despite predictions from Immigration New Zealand that visitors are more likely to trickle – than flood – in the coming months.
“I think it’s safe to say that we don’t expect the same level of demand that we saw pre-Covid. That’s probably for a number of reasons,” Immigration New Zealand’s Simon Sanders told national broadcaster RNZ.
“We know that China, which is a larger country that requires a visitor visa, is still subject to a number of travel restrictions, so we don’t expect much demand from there, at least initially.”
He encouraged students who have study offers to apply for visas immediately, and urged those who want to study in 2023 to extend by a couple of months “so that we can ensure that those due to arrive this year they can do it.”.
The full reopening comes as New Zealand ranks among the top seven countries in the world for average daily confirmed cases of Covid per 100,000 people, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
A University of Auckland study published last week warned that reopening the border could lead to a four-fold increase in foreign-sourced Covid-19 cases, putting further pressure on an already growing health system. .