New Zealand on Tuesday passed into law a unique plan to phase out tobacco smoking by imposing a lifetime ban on young people buying cigarettes. The law states that tobacco can’t ever be sold to anybody born on or after Jan. 1, 2009, it would be punishable by fines up to NZ$150,000 ($95,910). The ban will remain in place for a person's whole life. It means the minimum age for buying cigarettes will keep going up and up. In theory, somebody trying to buy a pack of cigarettes 50 years from now would need ID to show they were at least 63 years old. But health authorities hope smoking will fade away well before then. FILE PHOTO: Vaping by a man in a street in Auckland, New Zealand, Thursday, Dec. 9, 2021. (AP Photo/David Rowland) Already boasting one of the lowest adult smoking ...
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Tourists will no longer need to be vaccinated to visit New Zealand removed most of its remaining COVID-19 restrictions Monday as the government signaled a return to normalcy for the first time since the pandemic began. People will no longer be required to wear masks in supermarkets, stores, busses or planes. The last remaining vaccine mandates — on health care workers — will end. And tourists will no longer need to be vaccinated in order to visit the country. The government announced it was ditching its so-called COVID traffic light framework altogether and leaving in place just two main restrictions — that those who test positive for the virus isolate for seven days, and that people wear masks when visiting health care facilities like hospitals and aged-care homes. FILE PHOTO...
Read MoreNew Zealand on Friday welcomed the first cruise ship to return since the coronavirus pandemic began, signaling a long-sought return to normalcy for the nation’s tourism industry. New Zealand closed its borders in early 2020 as it sought at first to eliminate COVID-19 entirely and then later to control its spread. Although the country reopened its borders to most tourists arriving by plane in May, it wasn’t until two weeks ago that it lifted all remaining restrictions, including those on maritime arrivals. Many in the cruise industry question why it took so long. The Pacific Explorer sails into the Waitemata Harbour, in Auckland, New Zealand, Friday, Aug. 12, 2022. (Brett Phibbs/New Zealand Herald) The end of restrictions allowed Carnival Australia’s Pacific Explorer cruise shi...
Read MoreNew Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Wednesday the country will fully reopen its international borders from 11:59 p.m. on July 31, with cruise ships also welcome back to local ports on the same day. The end-July opening of the border is two months earlier than the government's previous time frame and will mean visitors who need visas will now be able to come to New Zealand. Ardern said in a speech to a Business NZ lunch in Auckland that opening the borders would help to relieve urgent skills shortages, open up tourism and put immigration settings on a more secure footing. "We are building on our proven plan to secure New Zealand's economic future," Ardern said. (Reuters) ...
Read MoreBut Indian tourists will still have to wait till October to get in New Zealand welcomed thousands of travellers from around the globe on Monday as the country opened its borders to visitors from around 60 nations including the United States, Britain and Singapore for the first time since COVID-19 hit in early 2020. Maori cultural performers sang songs at the arrivals gate in Auckland and travellers were handed popular locally made chocolate bars as the first flights came in from Los Angeles and San Francisco. Friends and family hugged and cried as people were reunited for what was for some the first time in more than two years. Garth Halliday, who was waiting at the airport for his son, daughter-in-law and grandson to land from London, told local media it made him happy an...
Read MoreNew Zealand is bringing forward the opening of its international borders to some travellers after more than two years of COVID-19 isolation, with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern saying an influx of tourists will boost the nation's economy. The change means the end of some of the toughest border controls in the world during the COVID pandemic, imposed as the government tried to keep the coronavirus out, comes months ahead of the previous schedule. New Zealand's policies helped keep infections and deaths low. But with the Omicron variant now rampant, criticism has grown as business, particularly tourism, and agricultural sectors see little value in staying shut off from the world. Ardern told reporters on Wednesday that vaccinated travellers from Australia, New Zealand's biggest sour...
Read MoreHobbit, Sauron and Gollum makeovers in New Zealand as Lord of the Rings turns 20 Middle-earth came to life again this week as New Zealand celebrated 20 years since the premiere of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy with special screenings, costume exhibition and art displays. Friday marked the 20th anniversary of when the first feature film of the J.R.R Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" and "Hobbit" trilogies premiered at Odeon Leicester Square in London on Dec. 10, 2001, bringing instant fame to New Zealand's rolling hills, meadows and forests, which were the backdrop for the mythical Middle-Earth. Screenings were planned in cinemas in Auckland and Wellington, including an outdoor screening on Friday in Hobbiton, a sheep and beef farm about 160 kilometers from Auckland, famous ...
Read MoreFully vaccinated international travellers will be allowed to enter the country from April 30 New Zealand will keep its borders closed to most international travellers for a further five months, the government said on Wednesday, outlining a cautious easing of coronavirus border curbs that have been in place for nearly two years. Along with its geographic isolation, the South Pacific country enforced some of the tightest pandemic restrictions among OECD nations, limiting the spread of COVID-19 and helping its economy bounce back faster than many of its peers. FILE PHOTO: A pedestrian weariing a face mask walks past a storefront reading "Welcome Back!" as shoppers return to the Newmarket retail district in the wake of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) lockdown restrictions being eased ...
Read More400 destinations around the world now hold the globally recognised stamp by WTTC More than 400 destinations around the world now proudly hold the World Travel & Tourism Council’s (WTTC) ‘Safe Travels’ stamp, with New Zealand, Switzerland, and Oman among the latest major destinations to adopt the globally recognised stamp. A group of people are enjoying watching dolphins in Oman WTTC, which has been continuously leading the private sector in the efforts to rebuild global consumer confidence and encourage the return of safe international travel, made history when it launched the world’s first ever global safety and hygiene stamp just over one year ago. The stamp, which has been crucial to restoring confidence in travellers and revive the global Travel & Tourism sector, has...
Read MoreAustralia-New Zealand travel bubble launches with lopsided demand
A testing and quarantine free travel bubble between Australia and New Zealand launched with lopsided demand, according to airlines and data firms, with an unusually high number of the travellers departing from Australia. The initial results from Asia’s first restriction-free travel bubble since the pandemic hit, which opened on Monday, showed that travel patterns can depart from their norms after such a long closure and may take time to return to normal. FILE PHOTO: A passenger arrives from New Zealand after the Trans-Tasman travel bubble opened overnight, following an extended border closure due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, at Sydney Airport in Sydney, Australia. REUTERS/Loren Elliott “Right now, it’s one-way traffic, with almost three times as much travel goi...
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