Covid-19 Response Minister says pre-departure testing under scrutiny

Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins says he is considering vaccination and pre-departure testing requirements for inbound travellers.

He said he had not received final advice on the requirement, which has been dropped in many other countries, and is seen by the travel and tourism industry as an impediment for New Zealand to fully open.

Hipkins said with winter approaching, seasonality is one of the factors being considered.

"We need to balance any impact on the health sector and rate of hospitalisation," he said.

NZ Airports has joined the call by others in aviation, including Air New Zealand's chief executive Greg Foran for the Government to drop requirements for travellers to take a pre-departure test (PDT) before flying to New Zealand.

"New Zealand is increasingly out of step with other nations' requirements on inbound travellers and, at this stage in the pandemic, the testing obligation is no longer a significant contributor in reducing Covid's impact in New Zealand," said NZ Airports chief executive Kevin Ward.

"However, it certainly does have a negative impact on airline passengers' willingness to travel here."

He said Australia, Singapore, Thailand, Canada, and Fiji have all recently dropped the requirement for vaccinated travellers to have a pre-departure test. Britain and many parts of Europe have not had a testing requirement for some time.

(Like New Zealand, the United States does require pre-departure tests taken the day before passengers board their flight.)

"New Zealand's requirement for pre-departure tests has a further negative impact on rebuilding the travel industry and is increasingly out of step," said Ward.

As other countries drop their own testing requirements, it is becoming harder and harder for ordinary travellers in those countries to get the required tests done before flying to New Zealand.

"Re-building the New Zealand travel and tourism sector is not helped by an extra barrier for international tourists."

Some Kiwis taking overseas holidays also fret they will not be able to fly home when scheduled, because of the testing requirement, at a time when Covid is running through the New Zealand community.

Tourism Export Council chief executive Lynda Keene said last week testing requirements meant New Zealand could be left behind.

"It might be a real struggle for New Zealand to get the rebound of international travellers we hope for if we can't keep pace with Australia. We're kind of back, but we've just dipping our toes in the water," she said.

Inbound tour operators have already seen bookings switch from New Zealand to Australia because offshore travel partners can't keep waiting for more decisions from the Government.

Cruising in Fiordland. A decision on cruise ships is looming. Photo / Supplied

The Government has also been criticised by the cruise industry for putting off a decision on allowing ships back into New Zealand waters, as has been allowed in other countries including Australia.

Hipkins said today an announcement on cruise ships is expected "within the next couple of weeks."

Kevin O'Sullivan, chief executive of the New Zealand Cruise Association, said last week that the PM drumming up tourism business in Singapore during her visit last month was "ironic when the borders are still firmly closed to cruise ships that could deliver 350,000 passengers keen to spend in the regions.

Because the Government has not made an announcement about the maritime border opening there continued to be cancellations.

So far 250 port calls have been lost and there will be many more. It takes a considerable time for cruise lines to plan deployment and any uncertainty means they will go (and are already going) elsewhere.''