The southern hemisphere countries of Australia and New Zealand have been notoriously strict on travel throughout the pandemic. However, Australia has now opened its doors to superyachts leaving New Zealand after the final of 36th America’s Cup.
Over 1,300 boats gathered in the waters of Auckland’s Waitemata Harbour during the America’s Cup racing, with an estimated 20 superyachts in attendance. As the superyachts prepare to depart New Zealand now that the action is over, Superyacht Australia has announced that quarantine-free access for New Zealand arrivals has been opened up to superyachts.
David Good, CEO of Superyacht Australia clarified that “vessel occupants will be able to step off and go ashore as soon as they receive a negative Covid test result on arrival. This is now available to superyachts and occupants who have been in New Zealand for longer than 14 days for arrival into New South Wales.”
With the 2021 Olympics scheduled to take place this August in Japan, Good suggested that there is a high possibility that visiting superyachts will want to stay in the Pacific region for the next few months. Opening up Australia’s superyacht cruising grounds will therefore offer both the tourism and yachting industries some much needed sustenance.
“Each vessel injects millions of dollars of economic contribution through the extensive use of contractors and tradesmen whenever they are in a port or marina. Australian shipyards are some of the best in the world, so it will be great to see these yachts making use of our skilled marine trades and shipyards which will keep these vessels in the region for longer,” added Good.
Though the travel bans maintained by both countries throughout the pandemic have severely impacted their tourism industries, both have managed to effectively control the outbreak with a notably low number of cases of the virus reported.