French Polynesia, which encompasses popular tourist destinations Bora Bora, Moorea and Tahiti, has “temporarily” shut its borders to tourists. This is the result of the continued “surge” of the COVID-19 virus throughout the world. No end date to this closure has been proposed.
The only people who are now allowed to enter French Polynesia are citizens, permanent residents and travelers who have a “compelling” reason to do so, generally related to family members, health issues or essential business. Included in the latter category are healthcare workers who are traveling here for COVID-19-related reasons. Specific exemptions will be communicated “in the coming days.”
Those who are 11 years of age or older and are amongst those who are approved to enter French Polynesia must have taken a PCR test within three days prior to departing for the country and be prepared to show a negative result.
An alternate, not-preferred option, is to show proof that the PCR test was completed but results have not been secured yet combined with a negative antigen test result from the same day that the passenger’s plane is departing for French Polynesia.
In either case, a self-test will also need to be completed four days after arriving.
It should also be noted that a curfew is in place from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. for those in French Polynesia, bars and indoor sports venues are closed, masks must be worn in public spaces, and gatherings must be limited to six or fewer people in most cases.
A significant factor in this decision to close tourism was French Polynesia having shown “significant improvement” in its own COVID-19 situation over the past several weeks, including no new cases being reported in the past three days, and officials wanting to ensure that this trend continues.
However, of the more than 18,000 here who have tested positive for this virus since its introduction in March, greater than 99% of them occurred after it reopened its borders and removed quarantine requirements in July.
Vaccination is also underway in French Polynesia; 2,100 of this country of 275,000 have received it so far.
Travelers who are already in French Polynesia and scheduled to depart later this week will be allowed to complete their stay at that time. However, those with departure times scheduled for beyond that point should contact their airline for clarification of their departure date.