Editorial: Travel bubbles on the backburner as border repair job continues

Paradise lost: It looks like staycations for Kiwis for the time being . Photo / 123rf

Editorial

EDITORIAL

The week before the announcement of Covid-19 re-emerging in the community, pressure was mounting on the Government to get on with opening a quarantine-free travel bubble with the Cook Islands.

Other Pacific countries such as Niue were also in the mix.

Airports and an aviation body piled the heat on, saying they had ways of separating different sets of passengers according to risk at international terminals.

The rapid-fire announcements from airports came with "when it is safe to do so" type messaging but the intention was clear - the Government needed to get on with it.

That in spite of ministers and director general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield warning of a time when, not if, community transmission of the virus would re-appear.

Last Monday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern remained non-committal about timing, saying a Cook Islands bubble could be in place before the end of the year.

The next day, community spread in Auckland was confirmed and now any Pacific bubble is as far away as ever. The Cook Islands has closed borders to all but a few exceptions following the outbreak in this country.

That bubble has popped the same way as hopes in early June of a travel corridor with Australia being in place as early as next month.

The Covid-19 spike in Victoria put paid to that.

There is overwhelming public and political party support of an elimination strategy in this country.

Set against a background of alarming examples of weakness and vulnerability at this country's frontier, the idea of elevating risk so that Rarotonga-bound holidaymakers could fly and flop is, for the time being, on the back burner.

Travel is still problematic in parts of the world that have opened up. About 160,000 British holidaymakers were told to return home immediately from France at the weekend or face 14 days' quarantine.

Ardern's view that overseas students will have to wait until next year is a further sign of caution around opening up the country. Proponents of travel bubbles are realising the virus is calling the shots.

The virus is tricky but, with each week, more is known about its spread, smarter testing and more effective treatments are being developed and some promising vaccine trials are progressing.

Aviation and tourism businesses desperately need some good news. These industries are on their knees and the annual results out today from Auckland Airport and Qantas will underscore the financial devastation of Covid.

Work on developing travel links must continue. This country needs to welcome visitors back as soon as possible, Australians alone spend more than $2.5 billion here a year and Kiwi holidaymakers are critical to heavily tourism-reliant Pacific economies.

But travel bubble preparations can be made in the background while energy goes into repairing our border weaknesses.