The Future of Travel In A Post-COVID World

Here are my predictions for how travel will reopen for Australians, to ensure both safety and convenience for us all.

The home quarantine model

It is predicted that Australia will move to a home quarantine model rather than hotel quarantine once international borders reopen. Scott Morrison has backed the NSW government’s most recent plan to open overseas travel and launch a seven-day home quarantine program. The current quarantine system is quickly being made redundant due to its exceptionally high costs, limited spaces and the inability to be around creature comforts. It makes more sense than ever for Australians to be able to quarantine in their homes – the faster a home quarantine system is implemented the faster everyone can return to the new normal.

Critically, we need to ensure these changes are implemented before domestic and international borders reopen, and that the process is consistent across every state to avoid traveller confusion.

Continued mandatory COVID-19 testing

Ensuring the safety of all incoming and outgoing travellers will be essential to make sure that our borders stay open, regardless of COVID-19 cases. The most obvious way forward is continuing to provide rapid and effective coronavirus testing. These tests will ensure that we can continue transitioning to ‘living with the virus’ rather than ‘fighting with the virus.’ However, many countries including Australia are requiring travellers to pay for COVID-19 tests for their flights.

Requiring payment for safety shouldn’t be asked of travellers once international borders officially reopen. This is especially true of the many Australians who will be returning home for the first time in almost 20 months, while others are getting the chance to visit family, travel for business or explore the world again – and not having to pay for a mandatory test will be one less expense. General COVID-19 testing across Australia has been free since the beginning of the pandemic, so the cost for tests when you travel has been an surprise for many people.

What the travel sector will look like once borders open

Around the country, there is a huge pent up demand for travel. The tourism sector has experienced a surge of interest since the announcement of travel restrictions easing. Over the past year, we have been locked down and now Aussies are craving an adventure or the opportunity to take the trip they have always wanted. We expect 2022-23 to be big for bucket list trips, alongside Tasmania, Japan, Morocco, Italy, Greece, Turkey and Iceland.

As Australia reopens, much like in Europe, the UK and North America, travel will first resume domestically, and then to local and regional destinations with high rates of vaccination. It is expected this will include the UK, the US, Singapore and the Pacific islands, with New Zealand not far behind.

The pandemic has had a devastating effect on the tourism industry, but now we are healing and getting ready to restart in a more sustainable, equitable and inclusive manner to benefit the people and places that Australians want to visit once again. We will see a huge rise in tourism, which will be great to see across the industry, something that all of Australia desperately needs to return to the new normal.