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Australian Government Believes International Travel Will Resume In 2021

Australian Government Believes International Travel Will Resume In 2021

Aussies are being told to think about domestic travel well before they consider a trip overseas.

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie

Many Australians have been wondering when social distancing rules will be lifted.

It's an understandable concern, considering many have been cooped up in their properties for weeks and are needing a light at the end of the tunnel.

Well, if you've been wondering whether that overseas trip you were hoping to go on at the end of the year was going to happen, think again.

The Australian government has revealed that international travel probably won't resume this year.

PA

Federal Tourism Minister Simon Birmingham told ABC Breakfast about whether an overseas jaunt in December would be a good idea: "I wouldn't put any guarantees that you could undertake that overseas trip in December."

Instead, the minister says Aussies should start thinking about domestic travel first.

Several states and territories have shut their borders due to the coronavirus and most people aren't allowed to leave their homes unless it's essential.

However, once those restrictions start to ease, Mr Birmingham wants people to jump in the car or on a plane and visit some of Australia's best kept secrets.

He added: "This is a time where, unfortunately, people can't undertake holidays and they won't be able to go overseas for some time to come.

"There may be a slightly earlier point in time where it becomes feasible to think about domestic travel again.

"We're not there yet but certainly this time is a good time for a bit of dreaming, planning, thinking about the Aussie break that you might take when we finally get to the other side of this."

The time frame on this is virtually impossible to say right now.

While loads of places around the country have indeed dropped their cumulative numbers of new coronavirus cases, it's still not clear whether we're safe to get out and about.

PA

The biggest fear is launching a second wave of cases and potentially deaths because we jumped the gun.

But, if and when that time to travel domestically does come, we could get a pretty sweet deal from it.

Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack also told ABC Breakfast that he had been talking to Qantas and Virgin over the weekend about the potential for the government to subsidise domestic flights for a period of time.

The move would hopefully create a lot of domestic tourism and help out those operators or small businesses that rely on visitors.

Tourism Minister Simon Birmingham said that would be an 'unlikely' step, however, we can only dream of a free trip around Australia.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: News, Australia