Hot on the heels that Australians will be able to jet off to New Zealand, it's been revealed we could soon be able to travel to some Asian and Pacific destinations without hotel quarantine.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, immigration and health authorities 'are exploring plans to open up to Singapore within months, followed by other nations with low COVID-19 numbers such as Fiji, Vietnam and Thailand, as well as Japan and South Korea' by August.
Australia's Prime Minister revealed that the countries were being considered for future travel however insisted it's not going to be in the next few months.
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"We have looked at places like Singapore and Japan and South Korea and countries like this, but at this stage, we are not in a position to move forward on any of those," he said.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced yesterday (April 6) that the trans-Tasman travel bubble with Australia will officially kick off from April 19.
It marks the first time Australians will be allowed to travel overseas without needing to quarantine on their arrival or return since borders were closed in March last year.
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The NZ leader explained that the bubble will operate on a state-by-state basis and the country won't hesitate to shut travel if there is a Covid-19 outbreak that can't be easily traced.
"If a case is found that is quite clearly linked to a border worker in a quarantine facility and is well contained, you'll likely see travel continue in the same way as you could see life continue if that happened here in Australia.
"If, however, a case was found that was not clearly linked to the border, and a state responded by a short lockdown to identify more information, we'd likely pause flights from that state in the same way we would stop travel into and out of a region in New Zealand as if it was were going into a full lockdown.
"And if we saw multiple cases of unknown origin, we would likely suspend flights for a set period of time."
Scott Morrison described the two-way bubble as 'the first of many more steps to come' as the country makes its way to adapting to Covid-19 'normal'.
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"The fact that we can now combine again will mean jobs, will mean people reunited. It will mean many opportunities as those normal relations are restored between Australia and NZ," Morrison said.
"This is the first of many more steps to come, I believe, as we get back to a more normal position, not only over the course of this year but beyond," he said.
However, David Beirman, a senior lecturer in tourism at UTS Business School, said he was 'cautiously optimistic' about the bubble.
"New Zealand has tended to be very skittish about the coronavirus ... they also seem to close the borders fairly regularly ... but we've got to look on the bright side of it," Dr Beirman said according to The New Daily.
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"For one, New Zealand is the first country that Australians have actually been permitted to visit in over a year ... that's a big change."
Featured Image Credit: PA