Reopening Travel To The Pacific Islands...
 

If New Zealand is successful in its eradication strategy, does anyone think we may have travel opened up again to unaffected Pacific nations?

I'll be honest: I will fly literally anywhere (that is safe) at this point, so maybe I am dreaming. But I imagine a scenario where eradicated countries open up borders in 4-6 months time with other countries who have also stamped it out. And surely first on that list would be the Pacific Islands given their significance to New Zealand.

Am I dreaming?

Fly anywhere ? Even Palmerston North ?
 

China is look like an option for an 2020 holiday... although you'll get 14 days in an hotel with room service on your return to AKL.

I would probably take that exchange to be honest! Especially if the hotel stay does become paid and you had choice. Right now I am assuming that you get what you get given, and if its the nice hotel, that's great for you, if it isn't, too bad. If I could quarantine in a hotel suite I will happily do that in exchange for itching my travel bug.

I would 100% travel to China in 6 months time on the condition it was safe for NZ.

Its an interesting one - if New Zealand keeps its boarders closed for to long, another countries start opening back up. I do wonder how much brain power the country will lose, I'll defiantly looked at my options of shifting to another country to use as an base.

Economically it's really tough if NZ gets left behind. No experts are discussing this, so I am going to assume my ideas are ludicrous, but I am imagining a scenario where the South Pacific gets the virus under control and reopens travel between our nations, and the rest of the world that didn't opens up their travel among themselves, since all countries in that region of the world are basically stuck with it now. We would have this split world for a year.

I mean, the islands may not open up because they cannot cope with out an outbreak - not everything is determined on what NZ Does/Does not.

You can practice this by staying in your bedroom for two weeks. Food gets left at the door. Windows don’t open. No laundry is done. I think you’ll crack after three days. I would.

Haha! Fair. But if it was a SUITE, a 1-bedroom suite, I would be absolutely fine. I would pay for it. My business is extremely solo. My outside time pre lockdown WAS travel. When I am at home, I basically spend 24/7 in my 1-bedroom apartment anyway, so it wouldn't be too different for me! Lockdown life is just my usual life. The bigger issue is I wouldn't want to put New Zealand in danger. And so if we are being quarantined then that means it's still dangerous.

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Interesting thread. Must admit am in two minds on the eradication policy. If sucessful NZ will be in its own bubble alone in the world. Focus initially should be on health but at some time Cindy will have strike a balance with economic out comes. The sooner AIRNZ can start upping its flights the better position it will wind up in. Hope a real focus on internal flights becomes a priority. Feel the border thing is now abit over the top, Whats happened to the trust angle on self isolation at home, guess while most us are adults seems overkill for the minority of idiots

Wouldn't Australia be the logical first country to open the borders to now that they are already discussing lockdown exit strategy seeing new daily cases drop to double digits? The two countries need to work together as the survival of many businesses are on the line.

Opening that route would, my guess be, the most important, but it's going to take longer for Australia to stamp it out. The reason why the Pacific Islands are safe to open up to faster is several of them have already stopped it from entering their countries. So if we stamp it out to, then we could in theory restart those flights fast.

This is on the basis that we are fairly certain, like Greenland announced today, that we have eradicated it. The Pacific nations might not trust us and I'd understand. That's part of this discussion, really. Will travel just not resume, because no one will trust the other countries? Or is there a reasonable chance they will?

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The political implications are going to get interesting. So far seems most are supportive.. but the real work begins around lockdown exit and economic salvage. Reopening borders forms part of this - leisure travel will be suppressed for a long while yet, but business needs are something else.

Many people mocked Australia for their *relaxed* approach a few weeks back.. but it will be interesting to compare their recovery with ours in 6 months time

14 days in a hotel room
 

you might be able to complete your 2020 tax return early :-)

I think it's a question of whether people actually want to fly or not in the foreseeable future (i.e. in the next 12 to 18 months). On the one hand you have quarantine on your return, and on the other you have the risk of catching the virus itself.

FF and business travellers aside, I doubt there would be enough demand from ordinary folk to warrant opening up certain routes. It's a shame, as the risk (at some as yet indeterminate point in the future) will probably be quite low - however the fears and precautions will remain. For example, one thing that does concern me, no matter how irrational it seems, is coming off a flight a little inebriated and jet lagged, only to get categorised as showing symptoms of COVID and ending up in quarantine in the country you arrived in, thus missing almost all (or a good portion thereof) your trip.

As for the Islands, I can see them following NZ's lead on this one - it's just a hunch. In some ways it's a good thing though, as more of us who want to spend our holiday aboard go to the Islands...in part because that's the only place we can safely travel to without being quarantined on our return!

As for business travellers, with so many businesses operating trans-tasman, I can't see NZ and OZ not having some sort of co-operative travel arrangement?

As for me, my current plan was to go to Singapore and Japan at the end of this year. As of this moment in time, my travel is still booked...but it seems more and more unlikely to happen with each passing week :(