Australia has opened its international borders to all vaccinated tourists, for the first time since March 2020 after the nation first imposed some of the world’s strictest COVID-19 travel restrictions.

Flight SQ227 from Singapore was the first to land in Melbourne at about 8.15am, with travellers greeted by a band welcoming them back to Australia at the arrivals lounge. The first flight into Sydney Airport arrived from Los Angeles at just after 6am, and other arrivals are due from Tokyo, Vancouver and Singapore.

There were a lot of tears and smiles as several passengers were seeing family, lovers and friends for the first time in months or years.

“The wait is over. Pack your bags… Don’t forget to bring your money with you, because you’ll find plenty of places to spend it,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison said during a press conference on Sunday ahead of the re-opening.

On a similar note, Federal Tourism Minister Dan Tehan said “What wonderful, wonderful news for our tourism industry and the 660,000 people employed in it. There is excitement everywhere, people are loving it, absolutely loving it”.

International passengers arrive at Melbourne Airport in Melbourne, Monday, 21 February, 2022. Photo: AAP/Joel Carrett

Only 56 international flights are expected to land in Australia in the 24 hours after the re-opening, admittedly a much lower rate based on pre-pandemic travel, but Mr Morrison reassured the media he had “no doubt the number will scale up in time”.

The travel ban – which also barred citizens from travelling overseas without an exemption limiting international arrivals to a bare minimum has reportedly cost businesses an estimated of $3.6 billion, according to the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, with tourism particularly hard hit, followed by hospitality and retail.

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said bookings had been strong since the announcement, thanking everyone that got vaccinated.

“We’re in this position today thanks to the millions of Australians who rolled up their sleeves to get the jab and give the Australian government and state and territory governments’ confidence that we can safely reopen to the world,” he said in a statement.