Spread the love
Post Views: 2

Overnight the Federal Government has issued an extension of seven (7) days to the current travel ban they have in place for Chinese Nationals entering Australia. AFTA welcomes this development as an indication that the Coronavirus (COVID-19) situation may be heading to a point of completion as a travel challenge.

It is important to note that while the DFAT travel advisory to China remains at the Level 4 – DO NOT TRAVEL, no other country has had its travel advisory lifted as a result of COVID-19. This means the Federal Government agencies believe the virus does not pose any risk to outbound travel that would otherwise be taken by Australians (including cruise departures).
IMPORTANT FACTS:

As of Friday 14 February: Confirmed cases of COVID-19.

Date                           Total China           Shanghai         Beijing
13/2/2020                  46798                      306                 352
12/2/2020                  44730                      302                 342
11/2/2020                  42708                      302                  342

Proportion of Cases                                  0.7%               0.8%
Growth Rate 2 Days   9.6%                     1.3%               2.9%

While the Tourism industry continues to be in a heavy pain point with the devastation of Bushfires and impacts from the travel ban from China, the Federal Government’s response with a record additional investment of $76 Million to help the tourism sector deal with the challenges of recovery is now well underway, and it may take some time to fully assess the impact of this investment.

The industry appreciates this investment at a time when it is needed and we will work with all of the government agencies to capitalise on this activation.

The need to keep Australians safe from COVID-19 is paramount and we continue to work with many government agencies as plans and responses are considered and implemented. The Federal Government continues to keep both the industry and the Australian travelling public well informed about the risks and key areas of concern.

Once the Coronavirus travel ban is lifted, the industry stands ready to respond and encourage our China visitors, be they visiting friends and relatives or tourists to come and experience the Australia that they have been missing.

Key to the travel bans being lifted as soon as medically appropriate, is to give Australian travellers total confidence to re-engage in travel and to continue with their plans to take a holiday be it in Australia, overseas or on a cruise.