Greetings from IACC AAP down under,

Here in Australia we have now the worst of Covid-19 behind us, venues are reopening and restrictions are slowly being eased, it does help that Australia is behind Europe and the US when it comes to reopening, there are some lessons learned. State governments are aiming to have 90% of the population vaccinated (13 year and older), NSW and Victoria have now reached this milestone and events are back on.

We have seen Covid restrictions change throughout the last 18 months with borders closures between states, 1 person per Msq, 1.5 meter distancing and many more. Currently we can fly from Sydney or Melbourne to London but we cannot visit Perth (WA)! The WA border will open late January. The worst city being hit with lock-downs was Melbourne (my home city), being lock down for a total of 9 months and the enviable  title of most locked down city in the world. 

Events are slowly coming back but due to the upcoming Christmas holidays (this is for Australia and NZ the summer holidays) businesses are holding off events till next year, my guess is that once the Xmas break is over more people will come back to their offices and overall confidence will increase.

It has been a long wait to get back to the “new normal” and I am looking forward to 2022 to do what we all enjoy, organising events. Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and great 2022.

Hendrik Karsten
AAP President