New Zealand will likely keep international borders shut for most of this year, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says.
It has no timeline to reopen to global tourism due to the uncertainty of vaccine rollout in many countries around the world.
It will only open for specific travel bubbles with Australia and some Pacific island but will stay firmly shut for most other countries.
"We can expect our borders to be impacted for much of this year. We will continue to pursue travel bubbles but the rest of the world simply poses too great a risk to our health and our economy to take a risk at this stage," the PM said.
New Zealand has been one of the more successful nations in containing the virus but closed borders continue to ravage the tourism industry.
Mass vaccine rollout to Kiwis will not begin until the middle of the year, Ardern said.
"For travel to restart we need one of two things. We either need the confidence that being vaccinated means you don’t pass Covid-19 on to others or we need enough of our population to be vaccinated and protected that people can safely re-enter New Zealand. Both possibilities will take some time."
Written by Ray Montgomery, Asia Editor
