Will Aussies Be Able to Travel to New Zealand Before Christmas? Maybe!

Wouldn't that be a nice gift?

If you were dreaming of jetting off on a fancy international holiday this year, it's safe to assume that 2020 quickly crushed any plans you had made. 

Thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, travel has been heavily restricted across the globe. At the moment, only Australian citizens, residents and immediate family members can travel down under. Everyone who arrives in Australia must be quarantined for 14 days.

On top of that, there are different state and territory travel restrictions in place around the country.

Yeah, 2020 has really thrown us more than a few curveballs.

However, it looks like Aussies may be able to head overseas this year after all. Well, to New Zealand at least. 

It was recently announced that travel between NZ and some Australian states could be possible before Christmas if COVID-19 cases continue to decrease. In fact, plans for a travel bubble between the two countries have been in the works for months.

By this stage, you're probably wondering what a travel bubble actually is, and what's stopping it from happening.

So, let's go through it together. 

What is a 'travel bubble'? 

According to Skyscanner, a travel bubble is an alliance between countries that have dealt with coronavirus domestically. 

The countries agree to open their borders to each other, but their borders will remain closed to visitors from countries outside their bubble.

In saying that, not all travel bubbles are free from restrictions. While free bubbles allow for unrestricted travel between two or more countries without any quarantine requirements, limited bubbles allow travel only in particular circumstances and quarantine periods can still apply.

How would the travel bubble between Australia and NZ work?

Back in March, a draft timeline for the Trans-Tasman travel bubble was revealed.

At the time, a flight between Canberra and Wellington had been proposed to take place on 1 July 2020. Plus, travel to the Pacific and other countries deemed "safe" could have potentially started happening in September.

Except, these plans were disrupted after a resurgence of coronavirus in Melbourne and a second wave of infections in Auckland.

Now, the Australian government is considering a plan that would initially allow for NZ residents to travel down under. These visitors would not need to quarantine once they have arrived in Australia.

As reported by 9News, only NZ residents from the South Island would be able to visit, as the North Island has a small coronavirus cluster emerging. 

The general critiera for quarantine-free travel is 28 days with zero community transmission. 

It's expected that residents from some Australian states would be able to travel to NZ by Christmas time. Reports suggest that a travel bubble between NZ and New South Wales could even happen in a matter of weeks, so keep your ears and eyes peeled for updates.

So, will the travel bubble happen before Christmas? 

That largely depends on whether the number of coronavirus cases in Australia and NZ keep declining. 

At this stage, the virus is now mostly contained in NZ. Cases also continue to decrease across Australia, with Victoria planning on easing some social distancing restrictions now that infections have slowed to fewer than 20 cases a day.

NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told the state broadcaster TVNZ that travel to at least some Australian regions before Christmas is possible.

"What we would need to be assured of is that when Australia is saying 'okay we've got a hotspot over here', that the border around that hotspot means that people aren't able to travel into the states where we are engaging with Trans-Tasman travel," she said.

Additionally, Federal Tourism Minister Simon Birmingham told Channel 9's Today Show that while Christmas is a target date, the travel bubble could happen sooner if both countries nail the process of contact tracing. 

We'll just have to keep holding onto hope that we'll be packing our bags sooner rather than later. 

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