Kiri Gillespie: Closed borders worth it but now's the time to reopen

OPINION
Next month, New Zealand's borders will finally reopen to international tourism without the need for managed self-isolation.

About time.

But while the return of international visitors will be a desperately needed reprieve for some tourism businesses, it's far from the silver bullet needed for local economic woes.

New Zealand's tourism sector has been hard-hit since the nation went into self-isolation from the world in March 2020. The measure was hard-felt among local operators, especially in the tourist playground of Rotorua.

Many operators adapted where they could to stay open and viable and should be applauded for that. Other operators didn't, or couldn't.

But the sacrifice of closed borders has been worth it.

Our little island nation has the ability to shut itself off from the world. Few other countries can do this and the death tolls from some of those nations during the Covid-19 outbreak have been catastrophic.

We are blessed we haven't seen the mass graves and fire pits countries such as India and some in South America resorted to. We haven't experienced the tragedy of sick and dying people in cars and ambulances because there is no room in hospitals, as happened in the US, which has recorded more than 960,000 Covid deaths since the outbreak.

As of Wednesday, New Zealand recorded 141 deaths, including a record 24 yesterday alone. Each of these is, of course, a tragedy.

But I believe shutting our borders gave us the best fighting chance and now is the time to embrace the world again. Many other countries have already done so.

We are clearly playing catch-up. But in taking the measures we have, I believe we've been shielded from the worst Covid-19 could have been in New Zealand. That's not to say we're done with it yet, with record numbers of cases and deaths. People and businesses are still going to have a tough year ahead.

However, if we don't reopen our borders now, there's a real chance we will be left behind.

Whether international tourism ever returns to what it once was is unknown. This uncertainty means the onus remains on us to help struggling businesses get back on their feet.

By shopping local, visiting local, and supporting local, we just might be able to make a difference.