Ardern: New Zealand to welcome back tourists

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Wednesday her nation was "ready to welcome the world back" with most tourists allowed to return by May as the nation continues to ease its coronavirus restrictions. International tourism used to account for about 20% of New Zealand's foreign income and more than 5% of GDP. But when the pandemic began, New Zealand enacted some of the world's strictest border controls and tourism evaporated. Ardern said the move would boost the economy.

Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand Prime Minister said "We have now received guidance that it is now safe to significantly bring forward the next stage of border reopening work to welcome back our tourists. In doing so, we're sending a very clear message that we are accelerating our economic recovery. Closing our border was one of the first actions we took to stop COVID-19 over two years ago and its reopening will spur our economic recovery throughout the remainder of the year.

The announcement bought forward the date that tourists from countries including the U.S., Canada, Britain and much of Europe can visit from the previously announced date of October. Under the new timeline, tourists from Australia will be able to visit from April 12 and tourists from other visa-waiver countries can visit from May 1.

Tourists from non-waiver countries — including India and China — will need to wait longer, unless they already have valid visitor visas. Tourists must be vaccinated and test negative for the virus before leaving their home country and again after arriving in New Zealand.