PRIME Minister Voreqe Bainimarama says Fiji’s international border for tourism will re-open to a list of travel partners.
In his Fiji Day address yesterday, the PM noted these countries include Australia, New Zealand, United States of America, United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Canada, Qatar, Germany, Spain, France, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, Switzerland, Japan and most Pacific Island Countries and Territories.
“To come to Fiji, travellers must have spent at least 10 days in any of these places. This list isn’t fixed, countries can be added as they achieve widespread vaccination of their populations,” the PM said.
“Fiji will have a no-jab, no-fly policy.
“Travellers aged 18 years and above must be fully vaccinated with either the Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca or — and this is a new addition — the Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccines.
“And before departing for Fiji, anyone aged 12 years and above must show a negative RT-PCR result for COVID-19 from a test taken within three days of departure. At Nadi Airport, immediately upon arrival, all travellers must download careFIJI onto their phones.”
From today, fully vaccinated travellers from these countries will have an amended seven-day quarantine period in Fiji, after which they will be tested for COVID-19 before entering the community.
The PM says from November 11, Fiji will re-open its border to these travel-partner countries in earnest and tourists from travel-partner countries would have no quarantine requirement from November 11 onward.
Instead, after showing proof of vaccination and testing negative for the virus 72 hours prior to their departure, they would arrive in Fiji and head straight to their hotel. .
“Hotels and tour operators in Fiji that welcome these tourists must all become Care Fiji Commitment Certified by our COVID-19 Risk Management Taskforce –– no exceptions, he said.’
“We’re counting on the full cooperation of our tourism industry to ensure that when our borders do open, they stay open.
“To our friends in Australia and New Zealand and to the residents of other countries we’re preparing to welcome, our message is simple: Fiji is ready to welcome you back to our shores.
“We are entirely confident in our ability to manage the risk associated with quarantine-free travel. Our planes are Our first scheduled tourism flight to the country — on Fiji Airways — will be on December 1.”
The PM added there would be no daylight savings for this year to allow smooth reopening of scheduled commercial air services.
