Border restrictions introduced & Bridgestone World Solar Challenge update

Following news of Victoria’s state-wide five-day lockdown, further border restrictions have today been introduced in South Australia.

The restrictions on travellers from Greater Melbourne brought in on Thursday have been extended to the whole of Victoria, including border communities. There are also quarantine and testing requirements for travellers through Melbourne’s Tullamarine Airport – including anyone who passed through terminal four of the Airport since 9 February is now required to quarantine for 14 days, and a testing requirement (and subsequent isolation until a negative test is returned) is in place for anyone who has transited anywhere through the Tullamarine Airport since 7 February.

Current testing requirements for NSW and Western Australia – which required travellers to test on day one, five and 12 – will now be lifted as of midnight tonight. I encourage you to refer to the SA Government’s COVID-19 website at covid-19.sa.gov.au for updates.

I am acutely aware of the impact of travel restrictions on our industry and people who wish to travel to SA. As always, these decisions are guided by the expert health advice and are made with the aim of not having them in place for any longer than they are needed. The SATC is monitoring the situation closely, and I will keep you informed as soon as any new details emerge.

In event news, today we announced that the 16th edition of the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge will not go ahead from 22-30 October this year.

Despite best efforts and extensive scenario planning by the SATC, the complexities of international border closures for an event that would need to bring in around 630 international participants in 2021, prompted the difficult decision. It is disappointing news for the dedicated group of university students who hoped to join us for the 2021 event, and I know how much effort they put into getting here.

The team is now looking at options to engage Australian and international entrants later this year, possibly through a virtual format. For details, see the media release here.

I will continue to keep you updated, in particular on how these latest changes impact our tourism and event sector.

Rodney Harrex
Chief Executive

See the full Industry Update - 12 February here.