TOURISM operators are celebrating after the federal government announced international borders will reopen from February 21.
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Prime minister Scott Morrison confirmed the changes after his cabinet's national security committee met on Monday.
"I know the tourism industry will be looking forward to that," he told reporters in Canberra.
"The condition is you must be double vaccinated to come to Australia. That's the rule. Everyone is expected to abide by it."
State-based caps on quarantine will continue, with the number still being determined by state and territory governments.
Golden Dragon Museum chief executive Hugo Leschen said the reopening was coming as tourism operators looked for ways to move on from the pandemic.
"The announcement is absolutely terrific. It's now a case of us looking for opportunities, and working with our various partners to encourage visitors," he said.
The museum plans to contact its partners to start a mixture of short and long term planning to attract more visitors to Bendigo and keep them in town for an extra night.
"That's really the golden egg for the industry," Mr Leschen said.
"A smallish percentage of our museum's visitations come from the overseas market but we want to encourage more people to come."
The museum believes Qantas flights in and out of the Bendigo Airport could be key to extra growth.
So too could a redevelopment of the airport's ageing terminal, which has secured bipartisan support after the Coalition promised $4.5 million in grant money from a community development fund in January.
Labor member for Bendigo Lisa Chesters has returned to Canberra after the summer break saying funding for the airport is top of her agenda.
She is urging the government to sign contracts and hand funding to the City of Greater Bendigo immediately.
The council expects the process on a project tender to take a few months to complete, and for works to finish midway through 2023.
Many tourism operators were hit hard when the pandemic closed borders two years ago, including in Greater Bendigo where $4.7 million was wiped from the accommodation and food services sector's output in one month, economic consultants at REMPLAN have estimated.
The sector was still recovering 14 months later in June, which was the latest REMPLAN was publicly displaying information for.
- With Australian Associated Press
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