Fiji’s borders have been largely closed since the start of the pandemic, but that’s about to change.
Continue reading: Fiji Opening To Vaccinated Americans
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
J award availability all the way from USA to Australia/NZ is very, very difficult to find.
One important restriction (that you failed to mention) will remain: fully vaccinated tourists from the list of "safe" countries will be required to remain on the grounds of their resort for their first two days after arrival. They're explicitly saying this isn't a quarantine -- because you won't have to stay in your room, you will be free to go to the beach, eat in the resort restaurant, and do activities -- but you will need to go straight from the airport to your resort, and will NOT be able to leave the premises for 2 days. That sure sounds like a "quarantine" to me, albeit a pretty minor one. It's for 2 days, after which you get a rapid test. Assuming you test negative after those 2 days in the soft quarantine, then you are free to go anywhere and there are no additional restrictions or tests required. They have not provided full details (like, what if your resort destination isn't on the same island you arrive to? How are they going to enforce this or track people if they're not getting on a bus to their big resort upon arrival?). Fiji has resorts on many islands. Unless they have a provision for such options, it seems this will only work for those who are going to a major resort near the airport. I'm sure the exact policy will evolve, because it does not seem practical except for those going to a big resort that's easily and directly accessible from NAN, and that leaves out much of the country. Once things start up, I would not be surprised if this "not-a-quarantine quarantine" is quietly ignored or forgotten -- but it was definitely mentioned in the government announcement, so we will have to see how it works in practice.
Still, this is good news. I would not hold your breath waiting for similar openings from New Zealand and Australia.
But not impossible. I've had 2 J awards SFO-NAD-AKL with stopover in NAD booked using AS miles for several months now, for travel in Feb 2022. But NZ needs to open.....
@Ben - Thailand just announced they plan to fully open the country to vaccinated tourists from 10 "low risk countries" on November 1, with no quarantine required. Interestingly, the "low-risk" countries mentioned include the USA, UK, Germany, Singapore...and China.
The Fijian government can be pretty damn draconian when it wants to so I wouldn’t want to be the one to test the limits of its requirements.
One question about these recent reopening news: how are "residents" defined? Do they only allow citizens of the specified countries to travel, or are foreign students and workers currently residing in these countries also eligible? Wondering how they would validate that as well, or maybe it just means anyone departing from these countries, even if you are coming from another country and transiting through US?