South Australia will reopen its borders to fully vaccinated travellers from all states and territories on November 23 when the state hits its slightly earlier than expected 80 percent fully-vaccinated mark.
Announcing the news, State Premier, Steven Marshall said the “race is on” but the state still needs people to get vaccinated as quickly as possible so that everyone can enjoy as normal a Christmas as possible.
“I am very grateful to the people of South Australia for the hard work they have out in”, he said.
“We are the envy of the world but as we know we cannot keep the Delta variant out forever,” he said.
The premier said he was confident a targeted 90 percent milestone could be expected to be achieved before Christmas.
The border reopening will see the quarantine period for fully vaccinated international arrivals reduced from 14 days to seven days.
However, unvaccinated international arrivals will still be required to complete 14 days quarantine.
When the state hits the 90 percent target, arrangements for fully vaccinated overseas arrivals will be removed.
The premier advised some restrictions will need to remain in place such as in indoor settings and current density and activity limits will not change.
High-risk activities, such as nightclubs and standing alcohol consumption, will only be permitted for fully vaccinated people.
South Australia Tourism Commission (SATC) chief executive, Rodney Harrax said the news presented an opportunity for the state’s industry and his organisation was already actively marketing in NSW and Victoria.
Mr Harrax said planned PR activities to drive visitation into the state would coincide with airlines’ plans to put on more flights into South Australia from the east coast.
Mike Parker-Brown is a UK-trained and qualified journalist and an award-winning travel communicator with more than 30 years experience.
Since 2002, Mike has worked as a freelance writer and PR consultant providing his services to major organisations in Australia and internationally in the tourism, aviation, hospitality, recruitment and export marketing sectors.
