How does a country with no COVID reopen its borders? These places are finding out

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A resort at Natadola Bay in Fiji is among many to have felt the effect of COVID on tourism.





Aileen Torrest-Bennett/AFP via Getty Images



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Aileen Torrest-Bennett/AFP via Getty Images



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Small, Far-Flung Pacific Islands Are Combating COVID-19 Just Like The Rest Of Us

A year later, the outlook for the region remains largely the same, says Roland Raja, lead economist at the Lowy Institute.

«Economically speaking, the recovery has been very slow in the Pacific, while the rest of the world is bouncing back,» he told NPR.

The slow bounce-back of tourism in some Pacific countries and territories is to blame. While others, such as Papua New Guinea — the largest economy in the region and a country dependent on commodity exports — are simply more overwhelmed with COVID-19 than they were last year, Raja said.

And while the region as a whole has a good vaccination rate, Raja says the light at the end of the tunnel «is not actually even clear.»

«I think at the moment, that’s what it looks like the Pacific is very much likely to be amongst the slowest, if not the slowest region, to recover from from this crisis,» he said.


When will reopening to the world be worth it?


Some countries across the vast Pacific, which includes 2.3 million people spread across roughly 15% of the globe, have attempted to balance their economic needs with the health of their people.

French Polynesia is one of them. Tourism is the French overseas territory’s main economic driver and officials have estimated a nearly $1.2 billion loss because the pandemic brought international tourism to a standstill.





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Tourists go snorkeling in Fiji. Tourism has taken a major hit in the Pacific.





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Tourists go snorkeling in Fiji. Tourism has taken a major hit in the Pacific.


Victor Bonito/Reef Explorer Fiji/AFP via Getty

After initially shutting its borders in March of 2020, French Polynesia, which includes renowned tourist islands Tahiti and Bora Bora, has since opened and closed its borders a handful of times. The territory has also made exceptions for French citizens and locals, such as politicians, to travel in and out, says Guillaume Colombani, a long-time tourism worker in Tahiti.

Still, he says that since the start of the pandemic the tourism sector «has suffered a lot.»

Paris controls the borders. Each time they’re opened, people there get «very scared,» Colombani says. French Polynesia has racked up over 45,000 COVID-19 cases and some 636 deaths.

This attempted balancing act has left many, like Colombani, unsure «that all the decisions that were made or taken were very good for us.»