Overseas Travel in 2021 ‘May be Challenging’ Says Australia’s Tourism Minister

Airline staff walk past empty baggage carousels at the Sydney Domestic Airport Terminal arrivals area in Sydney, Australia on Aug. 7, 2020. Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

Federal Tourism Minister Simon Birmingham says it’s not impossible that international travel could be back on the cards next year, but to do it in the first half of 2021 would be challenging.

Such travel will depend on the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines.

“Then of course the manufacturing rollout, distribution, uptake, all the other factors that come into how it is that a vaccine could change the way we look at things around this pandemic,” Senator Birmingham told Sky News’ Sunday Agenda program.