SOUTH KOREA TOURISM SPRINGS BACK TO LIFE

The South Korean government has announced it will reopen its border, commencing quarantine-free travel for vaccinated travellers from 1 April 2022. This announcement means that:· Vaccinated travellers from Australia and New Zealand can enter South Korea without quarantine.· To meet vaccination requirements, travellers must have had either:· Three doses of a recognised vaccine,· or two doses of a recognised vaccine with the second dose (first dose for Janssen) administered between 14 and 180 days prior to travel,· or two doses of a recognised vaccine and have been infected with and recovered from COVID-19 following their second dose (official health records must be provided as evidence).· The 10 vaccines recognised by the WHO are: Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, Janssen, Novavax, Sinopharm (Beijing), Sinovac, Covishield, Covaxin, Covovax.· Prior to arrival, travellers will be required to register on Korea's Q-CODE site (https://cov19ent.kdca.go.kr), where they can input their vaccination details, arrival and departure information, contact details while in Korea, evidence of a PCR test, and a fill out a health questionnaire. Once completed, travellers will be issued a QR code that can be printed.· Throughout travel, three COVID-19 detection tests are required. The first is a PCR test no more than 48 hours before departing for Korea. A second PCR test must be taken on the first day of arrival in Korea. Lastly, a Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) must be taken on the sixth or seventh day in Korea. · Children under the age of six years old are exempt from quarantine provided all accompanied parents/carers meet the vaccination requirements.· Travellers that are unvaccinated, do not meet the vaccine requirements, or those with a medical exemption will be able to enter South Korea, but will be subject to a seven-day mandatory quarantine period.· This quarantine-free travel for vaccinated travellers applies to all countries except a few high-risk countries. These countries will be monitored and updated regularly. Insook Lee, Director of Korea Tourism Organization Sydney said, "We cannot wait to welcome Australian and New Zealand travellers back to South Korea. We have noticed a pent-up demand and interest in travel to South Korea spurred on by tv series such as Squid Game, increased popularity of K-Pop, Korean beauty products and Korean food such as Kimchi appearing on menus everywhere". "We want Australians and New Zealanders to discover that there is so much more to see, from dramatic UNESCO World Heritage Listed islands like Jeju, to our incredible temples, palaces, museums and art galleries, cherry blossoms and snow as well as our diverse culinary experiences. Now is the time to discover South Korea," said Lee.