australia travel and covid

Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care

COVID-19 and travel

Find out about travel requirements and steps you can take to stay safe.

Domestic travel within Australia

Domestic travel requirements are determined by state and territory governments. Check the websites of local health departments for information about travel to:

• Australian Capital Territory
• New South Wales
• Northern Territory
• South Australia
• Western Australia .

Travelling overseas

The Australian Government does not currently have any COVID-19 requirements in place for travellers entering and departing Australia.

COVID-19 however continues to pose a health risk in Australia and overseas. We strongly encourage wearing masks and being vaccinated while travelling internationally. You should practice good cough and hand hygiene, and physically distance from others where possible.

Some countries, airlines and vessel operators may have COVID-19 travel requirements in place. Check the requirements of any:

• countries you are travelling to, or transiting through
• airlines or vessel operators.
• Smartraveller website
• Australian Government – international travel information .

Travel insurance

Travel insurance is important if you become sick with COVID-19 overseas. Make sure your insurance includes:

• transit destinations
• inclusions for COVID-19
• other add-ons like cruise specific insurance.

Some destinations also require travellers to hold travel insurance as a condition of entry.

Cruise travel

Check with your cruise provider or travel agent for up-to-date travel requirements for your ship and destination/s. You can also contact the relevant state or territory government to find out if any requirements apply for your destination.

Outbreaks onboard a cruise

Cruise ships carry a higher risk for spreading disease compared to other types of travel. COVID-19, influenza, and other infectious diseases spread easily between people living and socialising in close quarters.

If an outbreak of COVID-19 occurs on your cruise, you may need to:

• quarantine on the ship
• disembark and follow the local rules in the state or territory or country you are in.

Before you travel, check the  Smartraveller advice on cruises . Contact your travel agent or cruise operator for specific information on their COVID-19 safety protocols.

• Coronavirus (COVID-19)

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Reopening to tourists and other international travellers to secure our economic recovery

Joint media release with the hon. scott morrison mp, the hon. greg hunt mp and the hon. dan tehan mp.

Australia will reopen to all fully vaccinated visa holders, welcoming the return of tourists, business travellers, and other visitors from 21 February.  

These changes will ensure we protect the health of Australians, while we continue to secure our economic recovery. 

Australia’s health system has demonstrated its resilience throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, including though the recent Omicron wave. With improving health conditions, including a recent 23 per cent decline in hospitalisations due to COVID, the National Security Committee of Cabinet today agreed Australia is ready to further progress the staged reopening of our international border. 

Visa holders who are not fully vaccinated will still require a valid travel exemption to enter Australia, and will be subject to state and territory quarantine requirements. 

Today’s announcement will give certainty to our vital tourism industry, and allow them to start planning, hiring and preparing for our reopening. In 2018-19, tourism generated more than $60 billion for the Australian economy, with more than 660,000 jobs dependent on the industry. 

Since the Morrison Government commenced Australia’s staged international border reopening on 1 November 2021 we have seen almost 580,000 arrivals come to Australia including to reunite with loved ones, work or study. 

The Commonwealth continues to work with States and Territories on the safe resumption of the cruise industry and looks forward to further announcements on this in due course.

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COVID-19 and the border

Updates to Australia's immigration and border arrangements during the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic.

​​​Latest updates

From 12:01am on Saturday 11 March 2023, people travelling to Australia from China, including Hong Kong and Macau, will not be required to show evidence of a negative pre-departure test for COVID-19. For more information see Entering and leaving Australia .

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Travel and COVID-19

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If you develop symptoms such as severe shortness of breath or chest pain, call triple zero (000) immediately. Tell the phone operator and the paramedics on arrival if you have COVID-19.

How to avoid catching COVID-19 including getting vaccinated, wearing masks and physical distancing.

Does Australia have COVID-19 travel restrictions?

Travelling to australia.

People travelling to Australia no longer need to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test result.

Some countries, airlines and ships may have their own testing, vaccination and face-mask rules. You should check with them before travelling.

During your travel to Australia, you’re encouraged to wear a face mask to reduce your risk of getting and spreading COVID-19.

For more information, visit the Department of Home Affairs website.

Travelling interstate

You can freely travel within and between Australia’s states and territories. However, some remote communities may restrict who can enter and leave them.

Learn more about travelling in Australia:

• Australian Capital Territory
• New South Wales
• Northern Territory
• South Australia
• Western Australia

Do other countries have COVID-19 travel restrictions?

Some countries may have COVID-19 entry and exit rules. You may need to:

• show proof of COVID-19 vaccination
• show proof of a negative COVID-19 test result
• show proof of COVID-19 travel insurance
• quarantine for a certain time on arrival

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Australia's last international COVID travel restrictions are lifting. But their legacy for those caught up in them remains

For the first time in almost two years — 704 days — Australia’s borders will reopen to all fully-vaccinated travellers tomorrow. But for many the ordeal is far from over. 

When Prime Minister Scott Morrison stood in front of the nation, flanked by two Australian flags, and announced a complete travel ban on non-citizens and residents entering the country the following day, many knew exactly what was coming.

A day earlier, Morrison had announced a worldwide "do not travel" warning for Australians as COVID-19 cases multiplied. Days later, this was strengthened to a "ban"  on Australians travelling overseas without an exemption.

It was the first time in history Australians had been barred from leaving the country.

A map of the world coloured in red drove the severity of the situation home.

It was an unprecedented step for a country where just under half of the population have at least one parent born overseas .

At the time, in March 2020, Morrison justified the travel ban on the basis that 80 per cent of coronavirus cases detected in Australia stemmed from overseas transmission.

"We are looking at a situation of at least six months for how we deal with this. It could be much longer than that. It could be shorter," Morrison said as he warned Australians against leaving the country. 

Few expected the actual time frame would be closer to two years.

On Monday, after 100 weeks shut off to the world, Australia's last remaining international border restrictions for  fully-vaccinated travellers  will be lifted, allowing international tourists to return. In November, the restrictions barring fully vaccinated citizens and permanent residents from leaving were removed , and weeks later, fully vaccinated eligible temporary visa holders and international students were given the green light to return .

Much has changed: babies have been born, had birthdays, and started walking, without their grandparents, or even parents, there with them. People have died, without family by their side. Couples have lived and cried apart, brought together only by screens, and many others have been forced to make drastic life changes due to policies outside their control.

While the travel ban helped keep Australia free from the pandemic-induced calamity elsewhere in the world, at least for a while, they also attracted sharp criticism — not least of all from thousands of Australian citizens who found themselves stranded overseas, unable to return to their country of birth due to travel caps and unreliable flights.

Many citizens have now come home and more have reunited with their families overseas. Others are waiting for the final restrictions to lift on Monday, and some still don't know when their circumstances will allow them to return.

For West Australians, the uncertainty  has lasted even longer. After years cut off from the rest of the country, on Friday Premier Mark McGowan announced the state's hard borders would lift on March 3 — a week and a half after the rest of the country.

But as Australia's "hermit kingdom" chapter closes, the pain of the past two years is still very fresh. There are many thousands of stories of people impacted by the travel ban — here are five of them. 

Those still stuck overseas

Childcare worker Visha Sunyasi is among those still waiting to come home. 

For the past two years, her home in Western Australia, full of belongings, has sat untouched after a family emergency days before the travel ban was announced forced an unexpected trip to Mauritius.

When the news of the travel ban spread, Visha, her husband and her son, immediately tried to return to Australia — but because they were not citizens or permanent residents, it was too late.

"We were only supposed to come for a week," the 36-year-old, who had lived in Australia for five years, says.

"We came with nothing, everything is over there. We didn't even bring our clothes."

Visha says her new, unexpected, life in Mauritius has been difficult. She's had to find foster carers for her dog, who she left in Australia. Her 11-year-old son only speaks English and can't attend public school because he doesn't have a Mauritian birth certificate.

Instead, the family has been forced to pay for expensive private school so he doesn't fall behind. When he left Australia, he was in year 4 — he's now starting high school. "He misses his home, he misses his friends, he still hasn't been able to learn the language here properly," she says.

For her, finding work has also been impossible with all her qualifications and diplomas in a box in Australia.

"We came with nothing, we've had to start from zero here," she says.

"It kills me, I can't be there for my dog, I can't use my own computer, I can't have my stuff, our life is still there."

Visha's bridging visa expired months after becoming stranded, adding another hurdle to returning. She's since applied for a skilled work visa, which allows invited applicants to live in Australia for five years.

"It's been two years now and they haven't even processed it," she says. McGowan's shock announcement on Friday offers some hope however, opening up the possibility the family can soon return home as tourists. 

Those who couldn't leave

Over in Australia, it's the pain of being unable to leave the country that stays with Sydney resident Harry Karandikar.

In May last year, as Delta tore across India , the 38-year-old risk consultant got a call he had been dreading: both his parents in New Dehli had tested positive for the virus.

People around the world had watched terrifying scenes playing out on Indian streets; hospitals were over-stuffed and turning people away and family members were barred from attending the cremation of their loved ones.

As a result, the Australian government pushed its travel ban for India even further: for the first time, citizens and permanent residents were temporarily threatened with jail time and heavy fines if they tried to return to Australia. Likewise, Australian civilians were unable to get an exemption to travel to India.

Over three weeks, as his father's condition deteriorated, Harry — who is an Australian citizen and has lived here for 20 years — kept applying for exemptions to leave the country so he could see him. Each time, he was knocked back.

"It was like that gambler's fallacy, where you continue to sink money into something when you know the returns are highly stacked against you but you still do it," he says.

"Except, in this case, I was gambling my emotions instead of cash."

When flights resumed, it was too late: his father, due to a combination of a blood clot and COVID-19 infection, died on June 13. The funeral happened without Harry the next day. He hadn't seen his father in two years.

"Video calls over WhatsApp are not the same thing," he says.

An only child, he was then desperate to be with his mother (who was also rejected from coming to Australia).

"She was in her 60s, managing a lot of things alone, and needed to see her only child," he says. "Even that was knocked back."

Now, more than half a year later, Harry's mother is planning to travel to Sydney in May. On the anniversary of his father's death, they will hold a small ceremony to mark his life — this time, together.

"[The past two years] are going to remain with us for the rest of our lives," he says. "As a group of people, with connections across multiple continents and countries, we feel that we've been let down by the system."

The new mum left to go it alone

Nurse Rheanon Ronquillo is similarly still working to unpack the trauma of being separated from her partner during her pregnancy and first year as a new mum.

In November last year, Rheanon's husband met their daughter for the first time in the Philippines — a year and a half after she was born in Mildura, in regional Victoria — when  permanent residents were once again allowed to travel overseas.

The family is overjoyed to be together and will finally arrive in Australia together this week, but the road to this moment didn't come easily.

Rheanon, a permanent resident, discovered she was pregnant after one of her regular trips home in late 2019.

When months later the borders closed, panic set in: "I was crying, thinking 'I will be alone in the delivery room, it will just be me'."

When her colleagues threw her a gender reveal party at work back in Australia, Rheanon's then-fiance was forced to watch through a video screen.

But the real challenges began after the birth. A first-time mum in a foreign land, without family nearby for support, Rheanon relied on friends and the local Filipino community to juggle looking after her daughter and continuing her work on the pandemic frontlines. For extra support, she moved in with a friend's family.

"I was just crying every night, but I didn't want to show my colleagues and friends. You try to show them that you are ok," she says.

"But deep in myself, I knew it wasn't going to be OK, asking myself: 'How will I take care of this baby? I don't know how to take care of a baby. It's my first time'.

"The baby's growing, it's not slowing down. One day she was really small, and then you blink, and she's walking and running. It's really sad when you've been witnessing these milestones alone when your husband is on the other side of the world."

It was with this mindset, in November, that she made the decision to go back to the Philippines for three months. "Our daughter didn't want to go to her dad at first, it was like warming up: 'who's this guy that looks like me'," she says. "Now she's got the hang of it … they're inseparable."

Once they're settled in Australia, the couple plan to start the process of applying for a partner visa that will allow her husband to stay permanently.

But even now, Rheanon doesn't feel completely secure. "The rules in Australia can change at any minute," she says. "I just hope they don't lock the borders anymore. Whatever happened to me, I don't want it to happen to my worst enemy."

The couple who took a leap of faith

Courtney Courier and Cameron McDougall credit the pandemic as the reason they met — but it's also forced them to take extreme action to stay together.

In early 2021, both working from home — Courtney, 28, in Portland in the United States and Cameron, 33, in Hamilton near Brisbane — they turned to a new social media platform called Clubhouse to meet new people and stay connected to the outside world.

Quips in group chats quickly became long, one-on-one conversations that would continue late into the evening. Soon they were "on FaceTime 24/7".

"We'd be falling asleep on it, I'd be waking up to it, I'd set my kitchen on fire and she'd tell me before I knew about it," Cameron says.

"And then it got to the point that I realised I couldn't live like this."

But in the middle of a pandemic, being together physically wasn't going to be easy. Ideally, Courtney wanted to relocate to Australia because of Cameron's career — but the travel ban meant that wasn't possible.

Instead, they decided to take a "leap of faith": In October, Cameron quit his job at an electric vehicle start-up, sold his belongings, and applied for a six month US visa. The final step was providing their call logs and entire WhatsApp history as evidence to support Cameron's exemption to travel.

"It's COVID, we didn't know where the world was going, and the most important thing was to figure out a way to be together," Courtney says. "During this time, if you're going to be in a relationship that crosses borders, you have to make sure you're committed to this."

Now, with Cameron's visa coming to an end and Australia's borders reopening, the newly engaged couple are facing the prospect of packing up and doing it all over again.

The hope is Courtney will now be able to travel to Australia as a tourist and transition to a partner visa, but there's still the fear that backed up visa processing times could mean another separation.

"Essentially, it could be upwards of two years until either of us get any sort of legal right to work in either country," Cameron says. "It's going to be a long, long battle."

"The main thing we don't want is to be apart for any length of time," he continues. "Because with COVID, there could be a new strain or variant and they could lock borders — we're at the point where we are going to do our absolute best not to be separated."

Those who want to make every year count

Like many Australians, Valerie Preston is eager to get back into the world.

Not only is she missing her daughter in Canada and elderly family members in New Zealand, who she hasn't seen in more than two years, she's also keen to make the most of what she calls "the pointy end" of her life.

This involves a long bucket list, from long-distance walks in South America, to a trip to the Galapagos Islands and a tour around Iceland. But at 69 years old, she's realistic. "The years to do these things are running out. Every year really counts in what's available, my capacity, and whether I could actually manage to do these things," she says.

"I know people who are in their mid and late 70s who are fit and able, but there's no guarantee that I'll be right up there with them."

From her home in Picton, just outside Perth, she'll watch tourists arrive on Monday. Until Friday, she had no idea when she would be able to do the same. 

Western Australia was originally scheduled to reopen its hard border on February 5, but the Omicron wave prompted McGowan to delay the decision by almost a month. 

Valerie is conflicted when she reflects on Western Australia's approach to borders during the pandemic: on one hand, she recognises that the strict rules allowed her life to continue in relative safety while the pandemic raged elsewhere.

Because of her age, she also doesn't know "how she would fare" if she was to catch COVID-19, even with her relatively good health. "I'm a reasonably fit person, but sometimes that's not a guarantee," she says. Travelling overseas, she acknowledges, will come with a degree of risk.

But on the other hand, she adds: "Every day your life is getting shorter ... I just hope I'm up for it."

Editor's note, February 22: A previous version of this article said that all restrictions to international travel had been lifted, but there are still restrictions for those who choose not to be vaccinated.

Words and production:  Maani Truu

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‘Fortress Australia’ Has a New Message: Come Back

For nearly two years, the country projected a harsh message of rigidity and “rules are rules.” Will long-haul travelers bet on the easygoing, inviting image it is sending out now?

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By Tacey Rychter and Isabella Kwai

Moments after the Australian government announced that it would reopen the country’s borders to international travelers later this month, Emily Barrett locked in a fare for a flight to Sydney. The 32-year-old nanny from Palo Alto, Calif., spent three days researching and talking to Australian friends before she decided to book her trip to the island continent, which for two years had some of the world’s strictest border controls and longest lockdowns aimed at controlling the spread of the coronavirus.

“They all said, ‘if we go back into a lockdown now, people will go into the streets,’” she said. Her two-week trip is scheduled to start a few days after the border opens on Feb. 21.

Potential travelers and tourism operators alike are cautiously optimistic about the reopening of “Fortress Australia,” but many wonder if the isolated nation’s ongoing Covid restrictions — such as vaccine and testing requirements, as well as mask mandates — will make the return of international travel more of a trickle than a splash. Australia’s reputation for rigidity and reclusiveness during the pandemic — at odds with the inviting, easygoing nature portrayed by the country’s tourism boards — may also be a hurdle to overcome.

“There is no doubt that a full recovery will take time, but we are confident that the demand for Australia is strong,” said Phillipa Harrison, the managing director of Tourism Australia, the country’s tourism board.

Tourism was one of the fastest growing sectors in Australia’s economy before the pandemic, contributing 45 billion Australian dollars in 2019, or $32 billion.

Australia is among the world’s most immunized countries for Covid-19, with 94 percent of people over 16 fully vaccinated. Through 2020 and 2021, the country pursued a tough “zero Covid” strategy that closed national and state borders; restricted Australians from returning home and even leaving; enforced monthslong lockdowns and required its few visitors to undergo expensive hotel quarantines . Surging cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus in January, which persist, but have since declined , tipped most of the country into a new ‘living with the virus’ phase .

“It’s about coming back so the virus is under our control, whereas we felt that the virus was controlling us,” said Catherine Bennett, an epidemiologist at Deakin University in Melbourne, adding that opening the borders represented a turning point. “This is saying: We’re ready for this.”

Australia’s walls come down

Australia’s grand reopening comes with a few ground rules. Travelers entering the country must be fully vaccinated to avoid a costly hotel quarantine, and must test before arrival — somewhat common requirements for travel now.

But it will take a little more time for Australia’s welcome mat to roll out all the way. The entire state of Western Australia — a third of Australia’s vast land mass, but home to just 10 percent of the population — has essentially been closed to both international travelers and even vaccinated Australian citizens for most of the pandemic. It plans to reopen to vaccinated travelers on March 3, with testing rules on arrival. The state, which has reported about 2,900 total cases and 10 deaths since the pandemic began, is home to Perth — one of the world’s most remote major cities — more than 7,000 miles of coastline, the Kimberley region’s dramatic sandstone gorges and wine destinations like Margaret River. While the federal government can open the nation’s borders, the states can still set their own Covid restrictions, including entry rules.

“We desperately want people to come back,” said Graeme Skeggs, a general manager at Adam’s Pinnacle Tours , one of Western Australia’s larger tour companies, which, until the pandemic, operated luxury tours of the state’s renowned coastlines and landscapes. Much of their business evaporated after Covid struck, and some smaller operators the company worked with have closed. “Two years is a lot longer than any of us thought,” Mr. Skeggs said.

While many operators who rely on foreign tourists are hopeful, it’s clear that there is no simple return to prepandemic times.

China overtook New Zealand as Australia’s largest foreign tourist market for the first time in 2017, and 1.3 million visitors from mainland China spent more than $12 billion Australian dollars , or nearly $9 billion, in 2019, about 27 percent of the year’s international visitor spend.

With China still severely limiting outbound travel, that leaves a gaping hole in Australia’s tourism economy.

Michelle Chen opened the Apollo Surfcoast Chinese Restaurant in 2012 along Victoria’s Great Ocean Road — one of the state’s major scenic attractions, about a 2.5-hour drive from Melbourne — to cater to the hundreds of Chinese day-trippers who would stream off buses each day on their way to view the Twelve Apostles, a limestone rock formation farther down the coast.

When Australia closed to Chinese travelers on Feb. 1, 2020, she lost “nearly a hundred percent” of her business. In another stroke of misfortune, the restaurant burned down in April of last year. She reopened in December a few doors down. But Ms. Chen is not expecting her core customers to return for a long time.

She’s even revamped her menu, which used to feature dishes like Sichuan chile chicken that appealed to mainland Chinese visitors. Now the menu is “80 percent Australian-Chinese,” Ms. Chen said, with milder offerings like Mongolian beef. “I find I can’t sell the Chinese-Chinese dishes.”

Another thing desperately she’s looking forward to with the return of international travel: more workers. “Everywhere is shortage of labor,” she said.

The Djokovic drama

In January, the Australian Open — one of the country’s biggest sporting events, which draws hundreds of millions of viewers annually — became a media circus when Novak Djokovic, the world’s number one men’s tennis player, who is not vaccinated, was detained and finally deported from Melbourne because of his risk for “civil unrest.” The drama, which stretched on for 10 days, triggered protests in Australia from groups who believed the battle was the latest example of Covid-related mandates trampling public freedoms.

“Strong borders are fundamental to the Australian way of life,” the country’s prime minister, Scott Morrison, said after the decision to cancel the tennis star’s visa.

Australia’s fixation with border security is highly contentious within the country, particularly its harsh treatment of asylum seekers , but ultimately plays well with voters. But how would Mr. Djokovic’s unceremonious booting fit into Australia’s new “come on in” narrative?

“From our view, it really highlights the strength of Australia’s border policies,” said Chris Allison, Tourism Australia’s acting manager of the Americas. While Mr. Djokovic’s treatment was divisive, he said, it showed that “Australia has zero tolerance in terms of requiring vaccinations to come into the country,” and affirms the message of “how we’re trying to reopen our borders safely and protect the health of the nation.”

But time — and bookings — will tell if long-haul travelers are willing to bet on Australia’s reopening.

Some prefer to wait and see. Australia was where “everyone wanted to go” before the pandemic, said Samantha Carranza, a manager at Sky Tours , a travel agency in downtown Los Angeles. But “there isn’t much demand right now,” she said, adding that Australia’s protectiveness has made her clients cautious to travel there. “No one’s sure if it’s really open or not. Will it close again, will they get stuck there?”

The data shows that interest in travel to Australia is already on the rise: Flight bookings were up 200 percent following the border-opening announcement compared to the week before, according to Forward Keys, a travel analytics company.

“While the immediate jump in bookings is encouraging, the overall booking volume compared to the equivalent week in 2019 is modest,” said Olivier Ponti, the firm’s vice president of insights.

“I imagine there will be more and more confidence over the course of the year,” said Christie Hudson, a senior public relations manager at Expedia, the major online travel agency. “People are really ready to start thinking about these bucket-list trips again. I think for a lot of Americans, Australia is a bucket-list-type trip.”

Opening Aboriginal Australia to the world, cautiously

Cultural experiences led by Australia’s diverse Indigenous groups will be a focus of marketing to overseas travelers, according to Tourism Australia. But in the Northern Territory, the region with the highest proportion of Indigenous people, many remote communities are barred to outsiders until at least March 3 in an effort to protect the residents there from infection.

International visitors are key for the region’s Indigenous tourism sector: Before the pandemic, nearly 70 percent of overseas visitors to the Northern Territory engaged in Aboriginal tourism activities, compared to 16 percent of Australian tourists.

Victor Cooper, who owns and operates Ayal Aboriginal Tours in Kakadu National Park, said he used to welcome visitors from Europe and the United States to his “grandmother’s country,” where he taught them about bush tucker (native foods) and told traditional stories of the land.

“I had a really, really good thing in the overseas market, it took a long time to get that,” Mr. Cooper said. He has not had any overseas bookings since the reopening announcement, and worries things may be “complicated” for a while yet. “I don’t think I’m going to get the clients I used to have back in 2019.”

Other tourism operators are already seeing signs of recovery, which gives them hope for a better year ahead.

“It’s good to see people again,” said Dave Gordon, an employee at Wake Up Bondi , a hostel on Sydney’s famous beach, of the limited number of travelers who have been filtering back in recent months. “It’s exciting.”

Since the news of the border reopening, booking numbers for later in the year have risen, he said.

The first year of the pandemic was “quite a struggle,” he said. To survive, the hostel, which is on Bondi Beach’s main thoroughfare, slashed its rates and accepted longer-term lodgers, and even closed for a period.

But the border opening removes a major hurdle for him and other operators across the country, who want to convey a clear message for would-be tourists thinking of Australia: “Come!” he said. “This is the time to travel.”

Follow New York Times Travel on Instagram , Twitter and Facebook . And sign up for our weekly Travel Dispatch newsletter to receive expert tips on traveling smarter and inspiration for your next vacation. Dreaming up a future getaway or just armchair traveling? Check out our 52 Places for a Changed World for 2022.

Tacey Rychter is the social editor for the Travel section. More about Tacey Rychter

Isabella Kwai is a breaking news reporter in the London bureau. She joined The Times in 2017 as part of the Australia bureau. More about Isabella Kwai

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Check the vaccines and medicines list and visit your doctor at least a month before your trip to get vaccines or medicines you may need. If you or your doctor need help finding a location that provides certain vaccines or medicines, visit the Find a Clinic page.

Routine vaccines

Recommendations.

Make sure you are up-to-date on all routine vaccines before every trip. Some of these vaccines include

• Chickenpox (Varicella)
• Diphtheria-Tetanus-Pertussis
• Flu (influenza)
• Measles-Mumps-Rubella (MMR)

Immunization schedules

All eligible travelers should be up to date with their COVID-19 vaccines. Please see  Your COVID-19 Vaccination  for more information. 

COVID-19 vaccine

Hepatitis B

Recommended for unvaccinated travelers younger than 60 years old traveling to Australia. Unvaccinated travelers 60 years and older may get vaccinated before traveling to Australia.

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Dosing info - Hep B

Japanese Encephalitis

Japanese encephalitis is mainly a concern in the Murray River, and the Outer Torres Strait Islands area.

Recommended for travelers who

• Are moving to an area with Japanese encephalitis to live
• Spend long periods of time, such as a month or more, in areas with Japanese encephalitis
• Frequently travel to areas with Japanese encephalitis

Consider vaccination for travelers

• Spending less than a month in areas with Japanese encephalitis but will be doing activities that increase risk of infection, such as visiting rural areas, hiking or camping, or staying in places without air conditioning, screens, or bed nets
• Going to areas with Japanese encephalitis who are uncertain of their activities or how long they will be there

Not recommended for travelers planning short-term travel to urban areas or traveling at times outside of the Japanese encephalitis season.

Japanese encephalitis (CDC Yellow Book)

Japanese Encephalitis Vaccine for US Children

Cases of measles are on the rise worldwide. Travelers are at risk of measles if they have not been fully vaccinated at least two weeks prior to departure, or have not had measles in the past, and travel internationally to areas where measles is spreading.

All international travelers should be fully vaccinated against measles with the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine, including an early dose for infants 6–11 months, according to  CDC’s measles vaccination recommendations for international travel .

Measles (Rubeola) - CDC Yellow Book

Australia is free of dog rabies. However, rabies may still be present in wildlife species, particularly bats. CDC recommends rabies vaccination before travel only for people working directly with wildlife. These people may include veterinarians, animal handlers, field biologists, or laboratory workers working with specimens from mammalian species.

Rabies - CDC Yellow Book

Yellow Fever

Required for travelers ≥1 year old arriving from countries with risk for YF virus transmission; this includes >12-hour airport transits or layovers in countries with risk for YF virus transmission. 1 Travelers arriving from the Galápagos Islands of Ecuador are exempt from this requirement.

Yellow Fever - CDC Yellow Book

Avoid contaminated water

Leptospirosis

How most people get sick (most common modes of transmission)

• Touching urine or other body fluids from an animal infected with leptospirosis
• Swimming or wading in urine-contaminated fresh water, or contact with urine-contaminated mud
• Drinking water or eating food contaminated with animal urine
• Avoid contaminated water and soil

Clinical Guidance

Avoid bug bites.

• Mosquito bite

Dengue outbreaks in Australia have only occurred in north and central Queensland.

• Avoid Bug Bites

Ross River virus disease

Ross River fever

Airborne & droplet

• Breathing in air or accidentally eating food contaminated with the urine, droppings, or saliva of infected rodents
• Bite from an infected rodent
• Less commonly, being around someone sick with hantavirus (only occurs with Andes virus)
• Avoid rodents and areas where they live
• Avoid sick people

Tuberculosis (TB)

• Breathe in TB bacteria that is in the air from an infected and contagious person coughing, speaking, or singing.

Learn actions you can take to stay healthy and safe on your trip. Vaccines cannot protect you from many diseases in Australia, so your behaviors are important.

Eat and drink safely

Food and water standards around the world vary based on the destination. Standards may also differ within a country and risk may change depending on activity type (e.g., hiking versus business trip). You can learn more about safe food and drink choices when traveling by accessing the resources below.

• Choose Safe Food and Drinks When Traveling
• Water Treatment Options When Hiking, Camping or Traveling
• Global Water, Sanitation and Hygiene | Healthy Water
• Avoid Contaminated Water During Travel

You can also visit the  Department of State Country Information Pages  for additional information about food and water safety.

Prevent bug bites

Although Australia is an industrialized country, bug bites here can still spread diseases. Just as you would in the United States, try to avoid bug bites while spending time outside or in wooded areas.

What can I do to prevent bug bites?

• Cover exposed skin by wearing long-sleeved shirts, long pants, and hats.
• Use an appropriate insect repellent (see below).
• Consider using permethrin-treated clothing and gear if spending a lot of time outside. Do not use permethrin directly on skin.

What type of insect repellent should I use?

• FOR PROTECTION AGAINST TICKS AND MOSQUITOES: Use a repellent that contains 20% or more DEET for protection that lasts up to several hours.
• Picaridin (also known as KBR 3023, Bayrepel, and icaridin)
• Oil of lemon eucalyptus (OLE) or para-menthane-diol (PMD)
• 2-undecanone
• Always use insect repellent as directed.

What should I do if I am bitten by bugs?

• Avoid scratching bug bites, and apply hydrocortisone cream or calamine lotion to reduce the itching.
• Check your entire body for ticks after outdoor activity. Be sure to remove ticks properly.

What can I do to avoid bed bugs?

Although bed bugs do not carry disease, they are an annoyance. See our information page about avoiding bug bites for some easy tips to avoid them. For more information on bed bugs, see Bed Bugs .

For more detailed information on avoiding bug bites, see Avoid Bug Bites .

Stay safe outdoors

If your travel plans in Australia include outdoor activities, take these steps to stay safe and healthy during your trip:

• Stay alert to changing weather conditions and adjust your plans if conditions become unsafe.
• Prepare for activities by wearing the right clothes and packing protective items, such as bug spray, sunscreen, and a basic first aid kit.
• Consider learning basic first aid and CPR before travel. Bring a travel health kit with items appropriate for your activities.
• If you are outside for many hours in the heat, eat salty snacks and drink water to stay hydrated and replace salt lost through sweating.
• Protect yourself from UV radiation : use sunscreen with an SPF of at least 15, wear protective clothing, and seek shade during the hottest time of day (10 a.m.–4 p.m.).
• Be especially careful during summer months and at high elevation. Because sunlight reflects off snow, sand, and water, sun exposure may be increased during activities like skiing, swimming, and sailing.
• Very cold temperatures can be dangerous. Dress in layers and cover heads, hands, and feet properly if you are visiting a cold location.

Stay safe around water

• Swim only in designated swimming areas. Obey lifeguards and warning flags on beaches.
• Do not dive into shallow water.
• Avoid swallowing water when swimming. Untreated water can carry germs that make you sick.
• Practice safe boating—follow all boating safety laws, do not drink alcohol if you are driving a boat, and always wear a life jacket.

Keep away from animals

Most animals avoid people, but they may attack if they feel threatened, are protecting their young or territory, or if they are injured or ill. Animal bites and scratches can lead to serious diseases such as rabies.

Follow these tips to protect yourself:

• Do not touch or feed any animals you do not know.
• Do not allow animals to lick open wounds, and do not get animal saliva in your eyes or mouth.
• Avoid rodents and their urine and feces.
• Traveling pets should be supervised closely and not allowed to come in contact with local animals.
• If you wake in a room with a bat, seek medical care immediately.  Bat bites may be hard to see.

All animals can pose a threat, but be extra careful around dogs, bats, monkeys, sea animals such as jellyfish, and snakes. If you are bitten or scratched by an animal, immediately:

• Wash the wound with soap and clean water.
• Go to a doctor right away.
• Tell your doctor about your injury when you get back to the United States.

Reduce your exposure to germs

Follow these tips to avoid getting sick or spreading illness to others while traveling:

• Wash your hands often, especially before eating.
• If soap and water aren’t available, clean hands with hand sanitizer (containing at least 60% alcohol).
• Don’t touch your eyes, nose, or mouth. If you need to touch your face, make sure your hands are clean.
• Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or your sleeve (not your hands) when coughing or sneezing.
• Try to avoid contact with people who are sick.
• If you are sick, stay home or in your hotel room, unless you need medical care.

Avoid sharing body fluids

Diseases can be spread through body fluids, such as saliva, blood, vomit, and semen.

Protect yourself:

• Use latex condoms correctly.
• Do not inject drugs.
• Limit alcohol consumption. People take more risks when intoxicated.
• Do not share needles or any devices that can break the skin. That includes needles for tattoos, piercings, and acupuncture.
• If you receive medical or dental care, make sure the equipment is disinfected or sanitized.

Know how to get medical care while traveling

Plan for how you will get health care during your trip, should the need arise:

• Carry a list of local doctors and hospitals at your destination.
• Review your health insurance plan to determine what medical services it would cover during your trip. Consider purchasing travel health and medical evacuation insurance for things your regular insurance will not cover.
• Carry a card that identifies, in the local language, your blood type, chronic conditions or serious allergies, and the generic names of any medicines you take.
• Bring copies of your prescriptions for medicine and for eye glasses and contact lenses.
• Some prescription drugs may be illegal in other countries. Call Australia’s embassy to verify that all of your prescription(s) are legal to bring with you.
• Bring all the medicines (including over-the-counter medicines) you think you might need during your trip, including extra in case of travel delays. Ask your doctor to help you get prescriptions filled early if you need to.

Many foreign hospitals and clinics are accredited by the Joint Commission International. A list of accredited facilities is available at their website ( www.jointcommissioninternational.org ).

Select safe transportation

Motor vehicle crashes are the #1 killer of healthy US citizens in foreign countries.

Be smart when you are traveling on foot.

• Use sidewalks and marked crosswalks.
• Pay attention to the traffic around you, especially in crowded areas.
• Remember, people on foot do not always have the right of way in other countries.

Riding/Driving

Choose a safe vehicle.

• Choose official taxis or public transportation, such as trains and buses.
• Make sure there are seatbelts.
• Avoid overcrowded, overloaded, top-heavy buses and minivans.
• Avoid riding on motorcycles or motorbikes, especially motorbike taxis. (Many crashes are caused by inexperienced motorbike drivers.)
• Choose newer vehicles—they may have more safety features, such as airbags, and be more reliable.
• Choose larger vehicles, which may provide more protection in crashes.

Think about the driver.

• Do not drive after drinking alcohol or ride with someone who has been drinking.
• Consider hiring a licensed, trained driver familiar with the area.
• Arrange payment before departing.

Follow basic safety tips.

• Wear a seatbelt at all times.
• Sit in the back seat of cars and taxis.
• When on motorbikes or bicycles, always wear a helmet. (Bring a helmet from home, if needed.)
• Do not use a cell phone or text while driving (illegal in many countries).
• Travel during daylight hours only, especially in rural areas.
• If you choose to drive a vehicle in Australia, learn the local traffic laws and have the proper paperwork.
• Get any driving permits and insurance you may need. Get an International Driving Permit (IDP). Carry the IDP and a US-issued driver's license at all times.
• Check with your auto insurance policy's international coverage, and get more coverage if needed. Make sure you have liability insurance.
• Avoid using local, unscheduled aircraft.
• If possible, fly on larger planes (more than 30 seats); larger airplanes are more likely to have regular safety inspections.
• Try to schedule flights during daylight hours and in good weather.

Helpful Resources

Road Safety Overseas (Information from the US Department of State): Includes tips on driving in other countries, International Driving Permits, auto insurance, and other resources.

The Association for International Road Travel has country-specific Road Travel Reports available for most countries for a minimal fee.

Traffic flows on the left side of the road in Australia.

• Always pay close attention to the flow of traffic, especially when crossing the street.
• LOOK RIGHT for approaching traffic.

Maintain personal security

Use the same common sense traveling overseas that you would at home, and always stay alert and aware of your surroundings.

Before you leave

• Research your destination(s), including local laws, customs, and culture.
• Monitor travel advisories and alerts and read travel tips from the US Department of State.
• Enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) .
• Leave a copy of your itinerary, contact information, credit cards, and passport with someone at home.
• Pack as light as possible, and leave at home any item you could not replace.

While at your destination(s)

• Carry contact information for the nearest US embassy or consulate .
• Carry a photocopy of your passport and entry stamp; leave the actual passport securely in your hotel.
• Follow all local laws and social customs.
• Do not wear expensive clothing or jewelry.
• Always keep hotel doors locked, and store valuables in secure areas.
• If possible, choose hotel rooms between the 2nd and 6th floors.

Healthy Travel Packing List

Use the Healthy Travel Packing List for Australia for a list of health-related items to consider packing for your trip. Talk to your doctor about which items are most important for you.

Why does CDC recommend packing these health-related items?

It’s best to be prepared to prevent and treat common illnesses and injuries. Some supplies and medicines may be difficult to find at your destination, may have different names, or may have different ingredients than what you normally use.

If you are not feeling well after your trip, you may need to see a doctor. If you need help finding a travel medicine specialist, see Find a Clinic . Be sure to tell your doctor about your travel, including where you went and what you did on your trip. Also tell your doctor if you were bitten or scratched by an animal while traveling.

For more information on what to do if you are sick after your trip, see Getting Sick after Travel .

Map Disclaimer - The boundaries and names shown and the designations used on maps do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Approximate border lines for which there may not yet be full agreement are generally marked.

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• Passports, travel and living abroad
• Travel abroad
• Foreign travel advice

Entry requirements

This advice reflects the UK government’s understanding of current rules for people travelling on a full ‘British citizen’ passport from the UK, for the most common types of travel.

The authorities in Australia set and enforce entry rules. If you’re not sure how these requirements apply to you, contact Australia’s High Commission in the UK.

COVID-19 rules

You do not need a pre-departure COVID-19 test to enter or transit Australia regardless of your COVID-19 vaccination status. See the Australian government’s website for advice on COVID-19 and travelling.

COVID-19 quarantine requirements

Each state and territory determines its own quarantine rules. You should check requirements for specific states and territories .

Passport validity requirements

For entry into Australia, your passport should be valid for the proposed duration of your stay. If you’re transiting another country on your way to or from Australia, check the entry requirements for that country. Many countries will only allow entry if you have at least 6 months validity remaining on your passport.

Visa requirements

British citizens can usually get the following types of electronic visitor visa:

• eVisitor visa . There is no visa application charge or service fee
• Electronic Travel Authority (ETA) via the iOS App or Android App . There is no visa application charge, but a service fee of A$20 may apply

Information on all other types of visa is available from the Department of Home Affairs .

Working holiday visa

Thousands of Britons travel to Australia each year on a working holiday visa and the vast majority have no issues. Working conditions, accommodation and medical facilities are generally of a good standard.

You can find information about your rights as an employee in Australia and how to report any concerns about unfair or unlawful treatment on the Fair Work Ombudsman website , or by calling 131 394.

Get more information about working in Australia .

Dual nationals

If you’re a British national living in Australia with Australian citizenship, or a dual national, it is best to leave and enter Australia on your Australian passport. You could face difficulties and delays if you do not. See Australian government advice for dual nationals .

Vaccination requirements (other than COVID-19)

At least 8 weeks before your trip, check the vaccinations and certificates you need in TravelHealthPro’s Australia guide .

Quarantine of goods

Australia has strict quarantine rules to keep out pests and diseases that could affect plant, animal or human health.

You must fill out an Incoming Passenger Card and either:

• declare any risk goods including food, animal products and plant material (including wooden articles)
• dispose of any risk goods in the bins at the airport or sea port

All luggage is x-rayed on arrival. Any items of concern are further inspected, treated and if necessary confiscated and destroyed. You can be heavily fined for breaches of quarantine regulations.

You can find more information on the Department of Agriculture website .

You will also be asked to declare whether you have ‘visited a rural area, or been in contact with, or near, farm animals outside Australia in the past 30 days’.

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Travel Advisory September 8, 2023

Australia - level 1: exercise normal precautions.

Reissued with removal of major event information.

Exercise normal precautions in Australia. 

Read the country information page for additional information on travel to Australia.

If you decide to travel to Australia:

• Enroll in the  Smart Traveler Enrollment Program  ( STEP ) to receive Alerts and make it easier to locate you in an emergency.
• Follow the Department of State on  Facebook  and  Twitter .
• Review the  Country Security Report  for Australia.
• Visit the CDC page for the latest  Travel Health Information  related to your travel.
• Prepare a contingency plan for emergency situations. Review the  Traveler’s Checklist .

Embassy Messages

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Quick Facts

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One page required for entry stamp

Amounts over AUD 10,000, or equivalent, must be declared

Embassies and Consulates

U.s. consulate general sydney.

Suite 2, 50 Miller Street North Sydney, NSW 2060 Australia Telephone:  +(61) (2) 2 8219-2100 Emergency After-Hours Telephone: +(61) (2) 4422-2201 Email:   [email protected]

U.S. Embassy Canberra (The Embassy does not provide consular services.) Moonah Place Yarralumla, ACT 2600 Australia Telephone: +(61) (2) 6214-5600 Emergency After-Hours Telephone: +(61) (2) 411-424-608 Fax: +(61) (2) 6214-5970

U.S. Consulate General Melbourne 553 St. Kilda Road Melbourne, VIC 3004 Australia Telephone: +(61) (3) 9526-5900 Emergency After-Hours Telephone: +(61) (3) 9389-3601 Fax: +(61) (3) 9526-5968 Email:   [email protected]

U.S. Consulate General Perth 4th Floor 16 St. George's Terrace Perth, WA 6000 Australia Telephone: +(61) (8) 6144-5100 Emergency After-Hours Telephone: +(61) (8) 9476-0081 Fax: +(61) (8) 9325-5914 Email:  [email protected]

Destination Description

Learn about the U.S. relationship to countries around the world.   

Entry, Exit and Visa Requirements

You must have a valid U.S. passport and a visa or an approved Electronic Travel Authority (ETA) to enter Australia. Most U.S. passport holders traveling to Australia for tourism or business purposes for less than 90 days can obtain an ETA. The ETA is an electronic label-free visa and can be obtained at the ETA website for a small service fee. Airlines and many travel agents in the United States are also able to apply for ETAs on behalf of travelers.

If you overstay your ETA or any other visa, even for short periods, you may be subject to exclusion, detention, and removal by the Australian Department of Home Affairs.

If you are travelling on a valid U.S. ePassport (a passport that contains an electronic chip) and are 16 years of age or older, you are eligible to use Australia’s automated border processing system, SmartGate, upon arrival in Australia (SmartGate kiosks are available only at participating airports). There is no additional enrollment process or fee to use SmartGate. Visit the SmartGate website for more information and for a list of participating airports in Australia.

Visit the Embassy of Australia website for the most current visa information.  

HIV/AIDS restrictions. Some HIV/AIDS entry restrictions exist for visitors and foreigners seeking permanent residence in Australia. Depending on the type of visa you apply for, the length of your stay, and your intended activities in Australia, you may be required to undergo a medical examination before the Australian Department of Home Affairs will issue you a visa.

If you are in the application process, and are found to be HIV positive, a decision on the application will be considered on the same grounds as any other pre-existing medical condition (such as tuberculosis or cancer), with the focus on the cost to Australia’s health care and community services.

Additional information about Australian immigration health requirements can be found here.

Please verify this information with the Embassy of Australia in Washington D.C. before you travel. 

Find information on dual nationality , prevention of international child abduction and customs regulations on our websites.

Safety and Security

Terrorism: Terrorists have targeted, and could continue to target, Australia.

• Australia has an alert system for possible terrorist attacks. The threat levels range from “not expected” to “certain.” The Australian National Security website has up-to-date information regarding the current terrorism threat level. You may also contact the Australian National Security Hotline at 61-1-800-123-400.
• U.S. citizens in Australia should remain vigilant toward their personal security and exercise caution.
• Australian law protects the right of individuals and groups to engage in peaceful protest and to publicly express their views. Demonstrations and political rallies are generally approved by local authorities and well publicized. However, please be cautious of any possible confrontation that could escalate into violence. You should attempt to avoid the areas of demonstrations and be careful within the vicinity of any demonstrations. You should stay current with media coverage of local events and always be aware of your surroundings.
• You should be aware that robberies, burglaries, assault, and auto theft are common in Australia’s larger cities.
• Foreign visitors in popular tourist areas are targets for pickpockets, purse-snatchers, and petty thieves. Most petty crime can be avoided if basic security precautions are taken.
• Be careful when visiting bars or clubs in the entertainment areas of major cities, as “bar brawls” and other assaults sometimes occur. You should watch out for drink spiking when consuming alcohol with unfamiliar people.

See the Department of State and the FBI pages for information on scams.

Victims of Crime:

• Report crimes to the local police at 000 and contact the U.S. Consulate in your district.
• The local authorities are responsible for investigating and prosecuting crimes.
• See our webpage on help for U.S. victims of crime overseas .
• Assist you in reporting a crime to the police.
• Help you find appropriate medical care.
• Contact relatives or friends with your written consent.
• Explain the local criminal justice process in general terms.
• Provide a list of local attorneys.
• Provide information on victim’s compensation programs in the U.S.
• Provide information about Australian Victim Assistance programs.
• Provide an emergency loan for repatriation to the United States and/or limited medical support in cases of destitution.
• Help you find accommodation and arrange flights home.
• Replace a stolen or lost passport.

Domestic Violence: U.S. citizen victims of domestic violence may contact the U.S. consulate in your district for assistance.

Tourism: The tourism industry is generally regulated, and rules and safety inspections are regularly enforced. Hazardous areas/activities are identified with appropriate signage, and professional staff is typically on hand in support of organized activities. In the event of an injury, appropriate medical treatment is widely available throughout the country. Outside of a major metropolitan center, it may take more time for first responders and medical professionals to stabilize a patient and provide life-saving assistance. U.S. citizens are encouraged to purchase medical evacuation insurance . 

Local Laws & Special Circumstances

Criminal Penalties: You are subject to local laws. If you violate local laws, even unknowingly, you may be expelled, arrested, imprisoned or deported.

• It is illegal to take pictures of certain buildings, such as inside certain areas of Australian airports, near prisons, and at military bases.
• Furthermore, some laws are also prosecutable in the United States, regardless of local law. For examples, see our website on crimes against minors abroad and the Department of Justice website.

Alcohol and Drugs:

• Penalties for possession, use, or trafficking of drugs are strict. Convicted offenders can expect lengthy sentences and fines. Please see Australia’s Department of Health webpage for further information. 
• Driving under the influence of alcohol can result in jail time.
• Random breath testing of a driver's blood alcohol level is a common occurrence.

Arrest Notification: If you are arrested or detained, ask police or prison officials to notify the U.S. Embassy immediately. See our webpage for further information.

Potential Health Screening: Australian authorities have broad powers to prevent the entry of diseases and other materials into Australia that might pose a threat to its welfare. In the event of a public health emergency involving a communicable disease, passengers arriving in Australia may be subject to strict health screening measures, including testing, monitoring, and assessment for possible quarantine.

Customs: Australian customs authorities enforce very strict regulations concerning the importation from all countries of items such as agricultural goods, including plants and food products, and wood products, as well as very strict quarantine standards for animals and pets. Can you bring it in?

Contact the Embassy of Australia in Washington, D.C., or one of Australia's consulates in the United States for specific information regarding customs requirements, and visit the Australian Government’s Department of Agriculture website for additional information.

Natural Disasters:

Australia experiences a range of natural disasters, including bushfires, floods, and severe storms. These events are difficult to predict and can result in loss of life. You should be aware of conditions around you and monitor local weather and safety reports so you can take appropriate action when needed.

See our webpage for information on storm preparedness and response.

Safety Concerns:

Outdoor Recreation/Adventure

• Be aware that Australian fauna can be dangerous. From jellyfish to crocodiles, sharks, poisonous insects, and snakes, the continent and its waters host wildlife that merit awe and respect in equal doses.
• Visit the Wet Tropics Management Authority visitor information guide for information on Australian wildlife and marine life.
• Take important safety precautions when swimming, such as swimming only between the flags where a lifeguard is present, and never swimming alone.
• Further information on beach safety can be found on the Surf Life Saving website.

Follow recommended precautions when snorkeling and scuba diving and never dive alone. Over the past few years, there have been numerous deaths related to snorkeling and scuba diving incidents.

Faith-Based Travelers : See the following webpages for details:

• Faith-Based Travel Information
• International Religious Freedom Report – see country reports
• Human Rights Report – see country reports
• Hajj Fact Sheet for Travelers
• Best Practices for Volunteering Abroad

LGBTI Travelers: There are no legal restrictions on same-sex sexual relations or the organization of LGBTI events in Australia. Australian federal law prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation.

As of December 9, 2017 Australia defines marriage as “the union between two people.” Australia grants temporary and permanent visas to same-sex partners of Australian citizens.

See our LGBTI Travel Information page and section 6 of our Human Rights report for further details.

Travelers Who Require Accessibility Assistance

• Australia enforces laws prohibiting discrimination against access to premises, facilities, and accommodation.
• Many of the downtown areas of Australian cities were built in the 1800s. These areas often have narrow sidewalks crowded with pedestrians and tourists.
• Most public transit, parking, streets, and buildings are accessible for disabled travelers.
• Tourist spots at the beach or in the Australian outback can have varying degrees of accessibility.
• Many accommodations and venues provide accessibility information on their websites.

Students: See our Students Abroad page and FBI travel tips .

Women Travelers: See our travel tips for Women Travelers .

For emergency services in Australia, dial 000.

Ambulance services are widely available.

We do not pay medical bills.  Be aware that U.S. Medicare/Medicaid does not apply overseas. Most hospitals and doctors overseas do not accept U.S. health insurance.

• Excellent medical care is available in Australia.
• Doctors and hospitals often expect immediate cash payment for health services.
• Serious medical problems requiring hospitalization and/or medical evacuation to the United States can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Medical Insurance:  Make sure your health insurance plan provides coverage overseas. Most care providers overseas only accept cash payments. See our webpage for more information on overseas insurance coverage. Visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for more information on type of insurance you should consider before you travel overseas.

Prescriptions:

• If traveling with prescription medication, check with the government of  Australia  to ensure the medication is  legal in   Australia .
• Always, carry your prescription medication in original packaging with your doctor’s prescription

Vaccinations: Be up-to-date on all vaccinations recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Further health information:

• World Health Organization
• U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

Air Quality: Visit AirNow Department of State for information on air quality at U.S. Embassies and Consulates.

The U.S. Embassy maintains a list of hospitals and a link to the Australian National Health Services Directory at Medical Assistance - U.S. Embassy & Consulates in Australia (usembassy.gov) . We do not endorse or recommend any specific medical provider or clinic.

Medical Tourism and Elective Surgery

• Visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website for information on Medical Tourism, the risks of medical tourism, and what you can do to prepare before traveling to Australia.

Pharmaceuticals:

• U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Food and Drug Administration are responsible for rules governing the transport of medication back to the United States. Medication purchased abroad must meet their requirements to be legally brought back into the United States. Medication should be for personal use and must be approved for usage in the United States. Please visit the U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Food and Drug Administration websites for more information.  

Adventure Travel

• Visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website for more information about Adventure Travel .

Air Quality

Air pollution is a significant problem during certain months in Australia due to bush fires. Consider the impact seasonal bush fire season pollution may have on your health and consult your doctor before traveling.

The air quality varies considerably and changes with the season. It is typically at its worst in the bush fire season. People at the greatest risk from particle pollution exposure include:

• Infants, children, and teens
• People over 65 years of age
• People with lung disease such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema;
• People with heart disease or diabetes
• People who work or are active outdoors

Travel and Transportation

Road Conditions and Safety:

• Traffic operates on the left side of the road, and all vehicles use right-hand drive.
• Use caution when crossing streets and when driving.
• When crossing roads on foot, make sure you look carefully in all directions.
• Seat belt use by drivers and all passengers is mandatory, and fines apply for not wearing them.
• Motorcyclists must wear helmets.
• Speed limits and laws are rigorously enforced. Speed limits vary throughout Australia and are measured in kilometers, not miles. Be aware that speed cameras are everywhere and you will be ticketed for driving over the speed limit.
• Roads and streets are frequently narrower and less graded than U.S. highways.
• Outside major metropolitan areas, most highways are two-lane roads with significant distances between destinations.
• When driving in Australia, exercise caution while passing or merging with adjacent traffic.
• If driving in rural areas, be alert to free-roaming animals, such as kangaroos, and "road-trains" (several semi-truck trailers connected together).
• Passing road-trains is dangerous, and you should pull over to allow on-coming road-trains to pass to avoid being sideswiped.
• If you have no experience with a 4-wheel drive vehicle, you should exercise common-sense when driving in the Australian outback.

Traffic Laws:

• Each state/territory has different rules about using a foreign driver’s license and the conditions under which a visitor might have to get an international driver’s license. More information about  driving rules and regulations is available by state .
• Texting or holding your phone while driving is against the law in Australia, but you can use a hands-free system to communicate while driving.
• For specific information concerning Australian driving permits, vehicle inspection, road tax, mandatory insurance, and the rental and operation of motor vehicles in Australia, visit the  Australian Tourist Commission website.

Public Transportation:  Australia has an extensive and safe public transportation network consisting of buses, streetcars, ferries, trains, and subways. Metered taxis and ride sharing services are also prevalent. Use common sense safety practices, such as guarding valuables and remaining aware of your surroundings, on all public transportation.

See our  Road Safety page  for more information.

Aviation Safety Oversight:  The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has assessed the government of Australia’s Civil Aviation Authority as being in compliance with International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) aviation safety standards for oversight of Australia’s air carrier operations. Further information may be found on the  FAA’s safety assessment page .

Maritime Travel: Mariners planning travel to Australia should also check for U.S. maritime advisories and alerts . Information may also be posted to the U.S. Coast Guard homeport website , and the  NGA broadcast warnings website  portal select “broadcast warnings”.

For additional travel information

• Enroll in the  Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP)  to receive security messages and make it easier to locate you in an emergency.
• Call us in Washington, D.C. at 1-888-407-4747 (toll-free in the United States and Canada) or 1-202-501-4444 (from all other countries) from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., Eastern Standard Time, Monday through Friday (except U.S. federal holidays).
• See the  State Department’s travel website  for the  Worldwide Caution  and  Travel Advisories .
• Follow us on  Twitter  and  Facebook .
• See  traveling safely abroad  for useful travel tips.

Review information about International Parental Child Abduction in Australia .  For additional IPCA-related information, please see the  International Child Abduction Prevention and Return Act ( ICAPRA )  report.

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Fares fall as Australian air travel returns to pre-Covid capacity, Flight Centre says

Higher seat availability has resulted in lower airfares, group says, but cost-of-living pressures continue their impact on holiday plans

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Airlines have finally shaken off the lingering effects of Covid, with capacity back to pre-pandemic levels for the first time, according to data from Flight Centre.

Global seat availability climbed back over 100% of 2019 levels in April, with travellers enjoying lower air fares as a result.

“An analysis of key international routes for Australian travellers found fares on some international routes out of Australia dropped by up to 25%,” said Flight Centre Corporate’s managing director, Melissa Elf. “With more and more capacity and competition being introduced to the market, it’s a trend we’ll continue to see throughout the rest of the year.”

Australia’s international capacity is expected to tick up from 95% to 98% next month, while domestic capacity has been hovering between 98 and 100% for the last few months.

Elf said there are promising signs that air fares will continue to fall beyond the short term, with major carriers – including Delta, Singapore Airlines and China Southern – recently announcing new routes to Australia.

In the first quarter of 2024, flights to Australia’s most popular travel destination Indonesia were down 21% from the previous year at $798 return on average. Available seats to the holiday spot were at 115% of pre-pandemic capacity.

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Capacity to Japan, Qatar and Papua New Guinea are also above pre-Covid levels, while the UK is back even. Routes to Hong Kong and the US have the biggest room for recovery, at just 63% and 70% of pre-pandemic capacity respectively.

International and domestic seat capacity across Qantas and Jetstar recovered to 90% of pre-pandemic levels in the second half of 2023, an increase of 25% on the previous year, the group said.

Despite falling air fares, rising cost-of-living pressures elsewhere are forcing more Australians to holiday within their own state or cancel travel plans altogether.

In a survey of 1,500 Australians conducted by Pure Profile for the travel industry’s peak body, 70% planned to go away for a holiday during the autumn school break, including 41% within their own state, up from 36% during summer.

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A further 21% will holiday interstate and 8% were planning to go overseas.

The Tourism and Transport Forum’s chief executive, Margy Osmond, said it was pleasing to see Australians supporting the local economy and tourism operators.

“But we’re concerned the sector is still feeling the impact of cost-of-living pressures with many families taking shorter holidays than originally planned, staying with friends or relatives to save money or recently cancelling their travel plans altogether,” she said.

Just over half of respondents said cost-of-living pressures had affected their decision to travel, with a quarter saying they would go away for shorter than originally planned as a result.

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What's happened to ASX travel shares since COVID ended?

We review share price performances since 21 February 2022 when our international border reopened.

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ASX travel shares were absolutely smashed during the pandemic. The price charts below tell the story.

The scariest part for ASX travel stock investors was that this one black swan event that had never been seen before in modern times didn't just impact the industry, it shut it down .

We didn't know at the time the extent to which the pandemic would impact our lives, how long it would take to get through, and whether these travel businesses would even survive in the meantime.

It was a serious reminder to investors of the virtues of portfolio diversification .

Anyway, it's all over now, so let's look at what has happened to four ASX travel shares since COVID-19 "ended".

Officially, the World Health Organisation declared that COVID-19 was no longer a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) on 5 May 2023.

But it was over well before that.

For the purposes of analysing what's happened to the share prices of these four ASX travel shares since the pandemic ended, let's use 21 February 2022 as our starting point.

That's when Australia reopened its international border to fully vaccinated visa holders.

ASX travel shares: The long road to recovery

Webjet ltd ( asx: web ).

The Webjet share price is currently $8.65, up 2.67% on Thursday and up 18% over the past 12 months.

The ASX travel share has not yet managed to go anywhere near its pre-pandemic trading prices.

At the time of the pandemic market crash , Webjet shares dropped about 75% in value.

Then began a gradual recovery to close at $5.57 on 21 February 2022.

Since then, the ASX travel share has risen by 55%.

Webjet ceased paying dividends in the second half of 2020 and has not yet reinstated them.

Corporate Travel Management Ltd ( ASX: CTD )

The Corporate Travel Management share price is currently $16.36, up 0.55% on Thursday and down 14.5% over the past 12 months.

This ASX travel share managed to exceed its pre-pandemic trading levels in late 2021.

At the time of the market crash, Corporate Travel Management shares also dropped by about 75% in value.

The share price recovery had its ups and downs before closing at $22.83 on 21 February 2022.

Since then, the ASX travel share has fallen by 39%.

Corporate Travel Management ceased paying dividends in the second half of 2020 and resumed the payouts in the second half of 2022.

Qantas Airways Limited ( ASX: QAN )

The Qantas share price is currently $5.43, up 0.37% today and down 20% over the past 12 months.

The ASX airline share has not yet managed to rise above its pre-pandemic price levels.

At the time of the crash, Qantas shares dropped about 63% in value.

The share price recovery was a rollercoaster, with the stock closing at $5.15 on 21 February 2022.

Since then, the ASX travel share has risen by 5.6%.

Qantas ceased paying dividends in the first half of 2020 and has not yet reinstated them .

Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd ( ASX: FLT )

The Flight Centre share price is currently $21.30, up 0.85% and up almost 13% over the past 12 months.

The ASX travel share has not yet managed to rise above its pre-pandemic trading levels.

At the time of the crash, Flight Centre shares dropped about 75% in value.

Then began a slow recovery to close at $19.50 on 21 February 2022.

Since then, the ASX travel share has risen by 9.6%.

Flight Centre ceased paying dividends in the first half of 2020 and resumed payments in late 2023.

More on Travel Shares

Travel Shares

Why qantas shares are a buy and could rise 40%.

April 9, 2024 | James Mickleboro

Goldman Sachs thinks this airline operator's shares are undervalued.

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Qantas share price takes off on 'biggest ever expansions' of core loyalty program

April 8, 2024 | Bernd Struben

ASX 200 investors are bidding up the Qantas share price on Monday.

Why one fund manager thinks Qantas shares are cheap and 'incredibly underappreciated'

April 8, 2024 | Tristan Harrison

A fundie thinks Qantas stock can fly higher.

Why is the Flight Centre share price falling today?

March 26, 2024 | James Mickleboro

What's going on with this travel agent's shares?

A 'once in a lifetime' opportunity for Qantas shares?

March 26, 2024 | Tristan Harrison

Can this stock fly higher?

Act fast if you want to receive the next Flight Centre dividend

March 22, 2024 | James Mickleboro

It won't be long until this travel agent pays its next dividend.

Why is the Webjet share price racing to a 52-week high today?

March 21, 2024 | James Mickleboro

Webjet has been busy talking up its WebBeds business this morning.

Qantas shares hit turbulence amid $250,000 fine for 'shameful' conduct

March 6, 2024 | Bernd Struben

ASX 200 investors are bidding down the Qantas share price on Wednesday.

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