Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL), has welcomed the New Zealand Government’s decision to reopen its maritime borders to cruising as the line prepares for its inaugural Australasian season for the newly-refurbished Norwegian Spirit, set to offer four sailings from Auckland between January and March 2023.

There is a marked shift in the attitude of New Zealanders to see the New Zealand border open sooner, according to the latest KANAR survey released this week by Tourism New Zealand.

Researched in October, the survey shows that 57% of the 1,200 plus respondents would ‘prefer the NZ borders to open sooner to a limited number of low-risk countries to help the economy, with safety measures in place.’ This is up from 49% in the same survey in July 2021.

Spokespeople in the travel and tourism sectors say the recent Talbot Mills Research on lifting borders and on vaccination intentions contained definite positives for the industry.

Although media coverage emphasised that one in two New Zealanders do not want to see the borders open until 90% plus Kiwis were fully vaccinated, there were more encouraging details in the full picture.

Tourism Export Council (TEC) NZ has presented its hopes for a time line in terms of border openings.

In one of her last acts a TECNZ chair, Anna Black reiterated the organisation’s desire to have its New Zealand International Recovery Plan considered as the New Zealand Government prepares its own Tourism Transformation Plan.

Tourists and Icelandic residents entering the country will be given the option of being screened for the novel coronavirus from 15 June.

The choice means the 14-day quarantine will not be mandatory for passengers arriving at Keflavík International Airport.