Steve Price has piped up after Australia’s removal from the EU whitelist, but the drama might be all smoke, no fire for some Aussies.
Aussies looking to take a European holiday might have to put their long-awaited plans on ice after a new ruling threw a spanner in the works for a number of countries.
The European Union has named Australia, Canada and Argentina as high risk — removing all three from their travel ‘white list’ amid the latest Omicron surge.
The European Council advised member states to block visitors from Australia, which it singled out as a “Covid danger zone” due to surging Omicron case numbers.
It means Aussies will likely face restrictions for non-essential travel. The US also now rates as Australia high-risk, even warning its citizens against coming here.
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The US has since advised citizens to avoid Australia because of Covid-19 — by slapping a “Do Not Travel” Level 4 advisory on the country “due to COVID-19-related travel restrictions”. The advisory comes even though tourists are not yet allowed in.
Italy, Greece and Cyprus, on the other hand, have relaxed restrictions on Aussies arriving.
The decision put the wind up The Project panel on Monday night, with mainstay provocateur Steve Price throwing in his two cents.
“Fancy these (people) over there callings us dirty, filthy, Aussie Covid carriers,” co-host Price piped up.
Peter van Onselen crunched the data and worked out a number of countries deeming Australia “dangerous” in fact had daily case numbers far higher than Down Under.
“On the numbers, it’s ridiculous,” he said. “Not only in overall terms for the size of the population have they had been two and three times as many cases but even on current daily cases related to population size, European countries like France, Spain and Italy all are having more cases per day than we are.
“So are they advising their citizens to don’t go to Australia, and are they also saying leave Europe, leave your own country.”
However, chief executive of Flight Centre Graham Turner, believes the the removal from the EU’s whitelist will have “minimal effect on vaccinated Australians travelling to Europe”.
“Each EU country has their own protocols and if you are vaccinated most do not require pre-departure testing and isolation at arrival,” he said, via The Guardian.
“I believe the indications are that within three to six weeks Australians will be able to fly to North America and UK/Europe without pre-departure tests and tourists will be able to fly here under the same conditions.”
Currently, per population, Australia is recording one of the highest Covid-19 rates in the world, just behind France. But despite the growing figures — Australia has among the lowest death rates in the world while the USA has the highest.
As predicted, the airline industry is copping the brunt of constantly shifting travel guidelines.
Following WA Premier Mark McGowan’s announcement to extend the state’s border restrictions, Qantas announced the carrier would slash its schedule from February 5 to the end of March by 10 per cent.
In a statement issued by the airline, Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce said the ongoing situation in the west is “deeply concerning”.
“The border situation in WA is deeply concerning. February 5 was supposedly ‘locked in’ to give certainty,” Mr Joyce said in a statement on Friday.
“Tens of thousands of people booked travel on that basis and we brought a lot of our people back to work on that basis. Removing that certainty with no new timeline for when the border will reopen is a real blow not just for travel but for Australia as a whole.
“Other states have forged ahead despite the challenges that Omicron presented because they know this virus isn’t going away. The rest of the country is focused on getting through this but WA is still playing for time, despite people doing the right thing and getting vaccinated.
“The question is what it will take for them to open. It’s very hard, as a business, to deal with this level of uncertainty.”
Macquarie Research analysts said the Omicron variant and spread across Australia had dented domestic recovery. But the good news is that while 2022 was tipped to be the recovery year for the travel industry, the current variant will likely be a speedhump only temporarily.
“We are hopeful that this is a passing phase,” wrote Macquarie Securities’ David Fabris and Gabrielle Emerick.
“The delayed recovery will take a bite out of second half full-year 2022 earnings, with the domestic cost base fully loaded in late 2021 to be ready to fly with the expected snap back in travel demand.”
Originally published as The Project hosts react to Europe’s new travel guidelines for Australians
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