To be allowed to travel, Australians and New Zealanders will be required to present a medical certificate showing they have tested negative to COVID-19 within 48 hours of departure for Fiji and that they have undergone 14 days of quarantine in their home country.
Travellers will also be allowed to complete their 14-day quarantine in Fiji, at their own cost and in a government-designated quarantine centre or a hotel of their choosing. After two weeks they will be required to test negative before being allowed to travel further.
No start date has been announced. The Australian government has banned most overseas travel due to the pandemic.
Mr Bainimarama said travellers would be required to limit their movement to the VIP lanes, taking them from Nadi Airport, on to designated transport and into approved hotels and resorts.
The government was working to identify geographically isolated locations that could be used.
New Pacific Pathways would assist travellers from Tuvalu, Kiribati and Tonga.
Australia and New Zealand are continuing discussions for two-way travel later in 2020. Authorities in both countries are concerned about spreading COVID-19 into the Pacific through a premature return to international tourism.
Fiji will establish safe blue lanes for yachts and pleasure craft sailing into the country. Entry will be limited to Port Denarau Marina, and travellers must test negative on arrival.
Anyone on yachts at sea for less than 14 days will be required to complete the balance of the isolation period at dock before entering Fiji.
Fiji has gone 64 days without a new coronavirus case. Some businesses including nightclubs remain closed, gatherings are limited to 100 people and police are enforcing a nightly curfew from 11pm to 4am.
Mr Bainimarama said Fijian citizens, residents and permit holders currently in Australia and New Zealand would have special consideration to return home.
“If either Australia or New Zealand becomes COVID-contained, the quarantine requirements for travellers from that country will be lifted, and movement can expand beyond these bubbles to everywhere else in Fiji,” he said.
Fiji is looking to restart domestic television and movie production, and the Prime Minister said billionaires looking to travel on private jets, rent islands or invest in the country would get the chance for “a new home to escape the pandemic in paradise”.
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