Costsaver, part of The Travel Corporation family, has expanded to Australia and New Zealand with the launch of three new itineraries that take travellers through vibrant cities and scenic nature.
Travellers can discover Australia’s urban landscape on the Cosmopolitan Sydney and Melbourne itinerary, where they will spend nine days exploring the Blue Mountains National Park in Sydney, checking out cafes in Canberra, and embarking on a street art tour in Melbourne and more.
For more adventurous travellers, the Tropical Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef trek takes guests through the tropical Daintree Rainforest, into the waters of the Great Barrier Reef, and on an Aboriginal tour to Cooya Beach. Treating Cairns as home base during this six-day adventure, travellers will indulge in the tastes of the Outback with fresh seafood and exciting nightlife.
The Essence of Southern New Zealand tour offers travellers a chance to explore the South Island. The seven-day tour begins in Christchurch before heading down to Lake Pukaki and Aoraki Mount Cook National Park. After a day of hikes and breathtaking views, travellers will journey to the fast-paced capital city of Queenstown for wine tasting and more. Travellers will then spend a day in the glacial village of Franz Josef before returning to Christchurch.
The new itineraries come with 40 optional experiences, ranging from surf lessons on Bondi Beach to spa treatments at Te Waonui Forest Retreat in New Zealand.
The programmes are open for bookings now for travel through 2023.
“We see a promising return to travel this year with more vaccinated travel lanes announced and consumer confidence returning. We believe Australia and New Zealand are a natural fit, offering unpackaged and personalised experiences for travellers to get the most out of their holidays,” said Mae Cheah, president of Trafalgar and Costsaver.
The Malaysian government has revised its standard operating procedures for the Langkawi International Travel Bubble (LITB) recently, increasing air connectivity by allowing tourists to enter via domestic flights from klia2, in addition to Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
The mandatory insurance coverage for tourists has also been reduced from US$80,000 to US$50,000 for the duration of their stay in Malaysia.
Children aged 12 and below are now allowed to enter the island with their fully vaccinated parents or guardians without having to show proof of vaccination.
LITB travellers are now allowed to travel to other destinations in the country after staying four days in Langkawi, compared with the previous requirement of an eight-day stay on the island.
According to the New Straits Times, Langkawi Development Authority (LADA) CEO, Nasaruddin Abdul Muttalib, said the revised procedures would enable LITB arrivals to increase.
The LITB, which started as a three-month pilot project on November 15, 2021, has been extended indefinitely until the country’s borders reopen.
Last week, health minister Khairy Jamaluddin shared that a realistic target for the reopening of the country’s borders was in early 2Q2022, and that the Ministry of Health was preparing guidelines for the country’s reopening.
The guidelines would have to be presented to the Covid-19 Pandemic Management Committee, chaired by the prime minister, as well as the Covid-19 quartet ministers before being brought to the Cabinet.
An announcement on when the country will reopen its borders will eventually be made by the prime minister, Ismail Sabri Yaakob.