Australia had a win recently with the news a travel bubble would be opening with New Zealand, and while we’re certainly thrilled at the prospect of an overseas holiday in 2021, it’s unlikely things will feel ‘normal’ for a long, long time.
Officials have announced international travel is unlikely to resume without restrictions until 2024. It’s somewhat sobering news what with global vaccine roll-outs taking place, but not entirely surprising.
Deloitte Access Economics’ quarterly business outlook predicts global travel will resume gradually, and that quarantine periods for incoming travellers will likely be maintained into the future.
“That keeps international travel – both inbound and outbound – pretty weak in 2022, and it may not return to pre-pandemic levels until 2024,” Deloitte economist Chris Richardson said according to 7 News.
The report was actually printed prior to Scott Morrison’s vaccine announcement’s late last week, in which the Pfizer vaccine was been named the preferred vaccine for under 50s in Australia, due to the “possible link” between AstraZeneca and rare blood clots.
It’s unclear at this point as to whether this announcement would delay the Government’s roll-out timeline. Most recently, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has said there are hopes for all Australians to receive a first dose before the end of 2021, but said it was “not possible to set such targets given the many uncertainties involved”.
While it’s helpful to have a more realistic timeline around when we could likely hit the skies for holidays once more, the news does come as a disappointment to many. From the sounds of it, it looks like no Europe trips, no backpacking adventures, no destination weddings. Yet.
We remain optimistic though. The news travel won’t resume as normal in 2024 also doesn’t mean international trips will be completely off the table until then, but rather that the return of travel to what it once was will be slower than expected.
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