Covid-19 Recovery Minister Chris Hipkins has burst any dreams of a Cook Islands travel bubble by Christmas, but has the message been officially delivered to the islands?
NZ government officials visited Rarotonga last month to assess when quarantine-free travel can start between the countries.
Tourists operators there are desperate to throw down the welcome mat with the industry that's reliant on foreign tourists hard hit by the global Covid-19 pandemic.
But Chris Hipkins says there needs to be more work done on testing and contact tracing and he's not expecting any travel this side of Christmas.
Cook Islands Chamber of Commerce president Fletcher Melvin told Checkpoint they are still holding hope for a travel bubble by Christmas.
"We are still waiting for that official announcement from the New Zealand government. And that was supposed to be next week."
He says news that Covid-19 Minister Chris Hipkins had poured water on the travel bubble plans caught him by surprise, and he thinks Hipkins misspoke.
