Reopening South Pacific travel – crisis, recovery and the future

COVID-19 led to an unparalleled collapse of international travel. Few parts of the world felt this more keenly than the South Pacific, where borders were rapidly and firmly closed and international tourism was brought to a near standstill for nearly two years.

The region is now slowly reopening, but it faces a long and difficult task. Not only do South Pacific states need to rebuild their struggling tourism sectors, but they also need to reshape them, both to accommodate the new realities of the pandemic era and to ensure they can survive the next crisis.