Many frequent travelers have one question on their mind. When can they travel again to a particular destination? We’re seeing many countries around the world announce phased reopening measures. Just last week, I wrote about how Europe is going through the same process. Last month, we discussed how Australia and New Zealand are looking to create a ‘travel bubble’. Similarly, Singapore serves a major transit airport for many flights connecting different parts of the world. In addition, it also is a major tourist destination and a prominent business hub in Asia. Singapore is now trialling fast lanes for certain travelers as they look to relax restrictions in a phased manner.
Singapore Fast Lanes
Executive Traveler reports about the most recent trails that Singapore is undertaking.
Singapore is now trialling a ‘fast lane’ for business travelers which removes the need to undergo a mandatory 14-day quarantine period upon arrival in the city-state. The arrangement initially applies to travel for business and official government purposes between Singapore and the Chinese provinces or municipalities of Shanghai, Tianjin, Chongqing, Guangdong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang.
As expected, business travelers and government officials will initially be given precedence over leisure travelers during this phased reopening. Upon successful initial trials, the Singapore governments intends to sign similar agreements with other countries and gradually relax travel restrictions.
However, it does seem like the implementation will not be as easy as it seems in theory. We’re already seeing a resurgence of Covid-19 cases in many countries. This will more than likely trigger more restrictions instead of less. Singapore has already put their initial plan of reopening transit on hold due to implementation related issues, particularly while keeping transit passengers separate from other inbound and outbound travelers.
China reports 49 more coronavirus cases as Beijing tests thousands https://t.co/1vPG2NkXJC
— The Straits Times (@straits_times) June 15, 2020
The Pundit’s Mantra
It doesn’t surprise me one bit that we’re seeing many government agencies go back and forth on reopening plans. Governments will usually tend to err on the side of caution. Also, we’re still not seeing credible signs of Covid-19 numbers falling in many major markets around the world, in fact we’re seeing a resurgence in some.
Singapore continues to be one of my favorite travel destinations. Singapore Airlines is one of my favorite global airlines. I’ve frequently used Changi Airport as a transit point while connecting between the US, India and New Zealand or while traveling to South East Asia from India. Whenever travel reopens, I do intend to plan a few more trips to South East Asia, so I definitely have another quick visit to or via Singapore on my mind.
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