100,000 tourists stuck in New Zealand to leave as rules ease

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — About 100,000 tourists stuck in New Zealand since it began a lockdown last week were starting to fly to their home countries Friday.

The initial problem for many tourists had been that they were banned from catching domestic flights during the strict monthlong lockdown, which is aimed at preventing more coronavirus infections. The domestic flight ban prevented tourists from reaching the country's main hub of Auckland Airport to catch international flights home.

But Foreign Minister Winston Peters announced Thursday that tourists could catch internal flights, so long as they were leaving the country. He said charter flights organized by foreign countries would also be allowed alongside regular commercial flights.

Officials said 37,000 tourists had signed up with their various embassies seeking to return home, although Peters said in an interview with radio station RNZ that the true number seeking to leave was about 100,000.

The German Embassy in Wellington last week said that more than 12,000 tourists had signed up for its repatriation program, in which the German government is chartering flights, mostly from Air New Zealand.

British High Commissioner Laura Clarke said 10,000 British tourists had registered with her office wanting to return home.

“So even if we were to have chartered flights, we would still need commercial flights as well,” Clarke said in a video she posted on Twitter.

While most of the stranded tourists are from the U.K. and Europe, officials said about 2,700 tourists from Asia and 3,800 from North and South America combined had also signed up to be repatriated.

“Listen, we get it,” said U.S. Ambassador Scott Brown in a video message. “We've gotten your calls, your emails, your texts. We understand. And we...