7th May 2020 By Staff Reporter | news@tourismticker.com | @tourismticker
People will be allowed to travel for tourism and operators could open their doors at alert level 2, says prime minister Jacinda Ardern.
In a much-awaited announcement, Ardern said at the daily Covid-19 update today that people could now travel for tourism as long as they minimised risk, followed social distance guidelines, and maintained hygiene.
“It’s not so much the travel, although we want you to do that safely, it’s what you do when you get there that also matters,” Ardern said.
“So, of course, if you are engaging in activities with your family and you’re maintaining physical distance when you are out and about, you’re mindful of your personal hygiene, then yes.”
The Government’s Covid-19 website was today updated for level 2 criteria and now stated:
“You can travel around the country if you follow good personal health measures. You will need to keep records of what travel services you use and keep track of who you have been in contact with. You should keep your distance from groups of people you don’t know. You should minimise the number of places you stop on the way to your destination.”
However, you could not travel to attend any events of more than 100 people, which are still banned under alert level 2.
No-one would be allowed to travel if they were displaying symptoms of Covid-19, awaiting a test, or if they needed to self-isolate.
Workplaces could now operate if they were able to do so safely and they could have customers if contact tracing was in place and there was physical distancing of 1 metre between groups of customers.
On ski fields, Ardern suggested they, like golf courses, could open as they were different to large gatherings of people inside a confined space.
“Open-air, obviously, golf courses for instance, places where you have a large number of players, it’s obviously different sets of circumstances when we are talking about those mass gatherings,” Ardern said.
“It’s where you’ve got those congregations of individuals that we really need to be very mindful of the contact that people have with one another.”
While people could attend weddings, funerals, family events, concerts, religious services and public meetings the events could not have more than 100 people.
Government guidelines stated that indoor gatherings should be seated if possible, and should be approximately two hours long. While food and drink consumption was permitted they had to be served individually and not from a buffet.
Public venues, such as museums, food courts, markets, gyms and swimming pools would also be open again at alert level 2, with social distancing restrictions.
The NZ Super Rugby and ANZ Premiership Netball professional leagues would go ahead at level 2 because they took place in controlled workplaces but people could not attend in person.
Bars, cafes and restaurants could open provided groups were seated, separated, and used a single server if possible. Again, buffets would not be allowed.
Hospitality operators would have to keep a contact tracing system and to maintain physical distancing of 1 metre between groups.
A decision on when the country moved to level 2 is expected on Monday.
More information on the level 2 guidelines can be found here with more details to be unveiled in the coming days.
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