Businesses are buzzing over the Cook Island s bubble 4 May 2021
Quarantine-free travel begins from May 17 - with a flyer-beware warning.
It means families can reconnect, commercial arrangements can resume and holidaying Kiwis can support Cook Islands tourism.
Cook Islands Chamber of Commerce chief executive Eve Hayden says it means a lot.
She says she owns two resorts and bookings started rolling in last night.
Eve Hayden says she expects other businesses to have bookings lined up, not just for May, but further out in the year.
May 10 is the same date Air New Zealand is ramping up its operations to the Islands but they say that s just tentative until they find out when the bubble is opening.
A list of work that first had to be completed was given to the Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown when he visited a month ago and on Thursday he said it s been a priority. I cannot and will not sacrifice safety for the sake of expediency, my officials, therefore, have been instructed to work at pace so we can achieve both.
Brown s cabinet met today to decide whether that work is now complete.
And that s not all. They need to test run their contact tracing regime, said Associate Professor Collin Tukuitonga, who led a previous inspection team in February. This is as important as testing, for early control. He acknowledged the concerns expressed about latter-day colonialism, observing that she who pays the piper calls the tune. I think Prime Minister Ardern was spooked by measles in Samoa, reported to be from New Zealand. She doesn’t want similar in the Cooks, one assumes.
Air New Zealand
A one-way travel bubble opened between the Cook Islands and Rarotonga in January, but soon New Zealanders are expected to be able to holiday there without going through MIQ (video first published in January).