Australia back on the tourist map as international visitors return
Australia today, bringing the first international tourists in almost two years and an eagerly anticipated boost for the country’s tourism industry.
The Qantas Group will fly more than 14,000 passengers into Australia this week as quarantine and border barriers for international tourists come down.
QF12 from Los Angeles was the first to land at 6.20am and flights from other international destinations including Vancouver, Singapore and London will arrive into Sydney throughout the day. Jetstar’s first unrestricted international flight JQ18 will touch down in Melbourne from Phuket at 10.05am and QF70 from Delhi to Melbourne will arrive at 1.35pm.
Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce said bookings had been strong since the Australian Government announced the country was opening to international visitors, and today’s arrivals will be the first of many.
“It’s fair to say we’ve all been waiting a long time to welcome visitors back to Australia. The thousands of international tourists arriving this week and many more over the coming months will help kickstart the tourism industry which has done it tough for the past couple of years.
“We’re in this position today thanks to the millions of Australians who rolled up their sleeves to get the jab and give the Australian Government and state and territory governments’ confidence that we can safely reopen to the world.
“We can clearly see from the Australian Government’s announcement that people are very keen to come back to Australia, and we continue to see strong bookings out of the US and UK, as well as South Africa and Canada.”
Qantas restarted its international network for Australian citizens and visa holders on 1st November 2021, with a number of routes coming online since then. Sydney to Dallas recommenced flying on 16th February, and flights to other destinations are scheduled to relaunch in coming weeks including:
Qantas flights from eight overseas destinations are touching down in - Melbourne to Honolulu (Jetstar) – From 1st March
- Sydney to Honolulu (Jetstar) – From 3rd March
- Melbourne to Denpasar (Jetstar) – From 14th March
- Sydney to Denpasar (Jetstar) – From 15th March
- Brisbane to Singapore – From 27th March
- Sydney to Manila – From 27th March
- Sydney to Denpasar – From 28th March
- Darwin to Dili – From 30th March
- Brisbane to Los Angeles – From 1st April
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There will be many emotional reunions at Australia’s airports after families have been separated for 2 long years.
You ran a post a few weeks ago on how flight prices will shoot up. I can see fares to Australia rising with all the demand. I understand that the airlines have to catch up on lost revenues but it’s going to be difficult for some families to reunite.
It’s been such a long time, let’s hope that the Australian tourism industry has survived.
The only problem is that I’ve gotten out of the habit of flying long haul, I’ve forgotten all the tactics.
Two weeks ago I did a 3 hour flight and it seemed like a lifetime. I’d have to get back into the flow for a trip to Oz.