Emily Henderson: Ready to welcome back visitors - even the noisy ones

Vaccinated Australian visitors are allowed to enter New Zealand without having to self isolate from April 12 and Emily Henderson is expecting some loud guests to take advantage.

OPINION:

It's an oldie, but a goodie: For flightless birds, Kiwis sure do get around. And in our travels we pick up all manner of weird and wonderful souvenirs, including, in my case, a posse of Australian friends.

They're loud, they're opinionated and while you wouldn't want to try and outdrink them, there's nothing like old friends. So as soon as the news broke the texts went out: New Zealand is reopening for visitors: See you soon.

Closing our borders to keep Covid out helped save thousands of lives. Now, with one of the highest rates of vaccination worldwide, as the Omicron outbreak begins to subside we're well-positioned to reopen safely, and in advance of predictions.

From April 12 we reopen to vaccinated Australians and then from May 1 we reopen to vaccinated travellers from visa-waiver countries like the UK, as well as others holding valid visitor visas.

Travellers won't have to self-isolate, as long as they are vaccinated and test negative on arrival and again on day 5 or 6.

This sped-up timeline will ensure we're open for the Australian school holidays and the Easter-Anzac break, and well in advance of New Zealand's 2022 ski season.

Reopening is great for families and friends, and a big boost for Whangārei's tourist economy, which has had a very hard time over the last two years.

The opening of the Hundertwasser Art Centre and Wairau Māori Art Gallery has demonstrated that even an increase in domestic tourists boosts business for the whole surrounding area. Welcoming tourists back will undoubtedly help accelerate our economic recovery overall, a recovery already gathering pace.

Unemployment is at a record low, exports are up, and GDP is growing, with the IMF recently praising our strong economic management. The return of working holiday tourists will also provide useful seasonal labour for farmers and growers across the region.

The boost is undoubtedly timely: Supply chain issues and Russia's invasion of Ukraine are impacting countries worldwide, and the resulting cost-of-living pressures are hitting some Whangārei families hard.

We've taken action to make petrol more affordable, and more relief is coming in April and May, with increases to Working for Families and Superannuation, and the Winter Energy Payment kicking in.

While tourist numbers will take time to recover, we've launched a new tourist campaign to help them along.

It definitely doesn't hurt that Northland is the only place in New Zealand to make the New York Times' January list of the best places to visit worldwide, and Lonely Planet named our near neighbour Auckland the best city in the world to visit.

Congratulations to Tu Tika Tours, by Whangārei family the Hardings, and Pataua North's eco-retreat, Tahi, both of which got highlighted by the New York Times.

Reopening our borders to tourists will strengthen our economy, and give us the opportunity to extend our manaakitanga once more. Here in Whangārei we're proud of all we have to offer, and I'm looking forward to welcoming back visitors. Especially a certain bunch of loud Australian ones.