Australia Travel Update: Victoria to Scrap Quarantine

With international borders set to reopen for fully vaccinated travellers from the beginning of November, Australians and permanent residents are dreaming up their next overseas holiday or making plans to reunite with friends and family.

The state of Victoria, home to the city of Melbourne and the Yarra Valley wine region, has announced that it will scrap quarantine for fully vaccinated arrivals from 1 November.

The state’s Premier, Daniel Andrews, confirmed the move on 22 October, stating that vaccinated arrivals must have had a negative test within 72 hours of their departure, as well as taking a test within 24 hours of arriving in Victoria.

This means that we will reduce our hotel quarantine program down to just a handful of hotels.
Victoria state Premier Daniel Andrews

It brings the state in line with New South Wales, which announced that it would be dropping quarantine for the vaccinated.

Tasmania and Queensland are expected to reopen their borders on 15 December and 17 December respectively, provided travellers meet certain conditions, including being vaccinated and having a negative PCR test before arriving.

New South Wales and Victoria will be reopening their borders to a limited number of international students before Christmas under a pilot plan.

Australia’s Travel Bubble With Singapore

The international border opening in November is for inbound and outbound Australians and permanent residents.

However, tourists in most countries have more ways to go before they can fly to Australia. Previously, it has been reported that Australia will welcome tourists again in 2022.

Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced that the country will start a “travel bubble” arrangement with Singapore, with plans coming into effect “within the next week”.

The air corridor will operate in a similar way to Australia’s present arrangement with New Zealand, with vaccinated visa holders able to fly in, and students and business travellers initially prioritised.

Mr Morrison said that the Australian government was in the “final stages of concluding an arrangement with the Singapore government” ahead of the plans.

We anticipate that being able to be achieved within the next week or so, as we would open up to more visa class holders coming out of Singapore, we will see that occur.

The Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Hsien Loong, tweeted:

Delighted to hear that Australia will be allowing entry to visa holders from Singapore. Look forward to resuming close connectivity between our countries, as we move towards an endemic COVID future. – LHL https://t.co/fqS0k7OW4m pic.twitter.com/h73vYNRhSD
— leehsienloong (@leehsienloong) October 21, 2021

At present, Australia's travel corridor with New Zealand remains suspended. No set date has been announced for allowing UK travellers into Australia.

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