S’pore Will Allow Leisure Travel With Hong Kong Without a Need to Quarantine ‘Soon’

By
Boon Hun
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Singapore is starting to have a good impression of Hong Kong, at least in terms of Covid-19 management.

In case you’ve missed it, travellers from Hong Kong are now allowed to enter Singapore and only serve 7-day Stay-Home-Notice (SHN) instead of the usual 14 days.

But you know what? Turns out, Singapore likes Hong Kong even more than that. So much more that we’re could be considering zero quarantine.

S’pore Will Allow Leisure Travel With Hong Kong Without a Need to Quarantine

Singapore has just announced its first air travel bubble with Hong Kong “in principle”. Basically, that means they’re open to the idea but the details haven’t been worked out yet.

For those not in the know, a travel bubble basically means two countries come to an agreement to let their general travellers visit the other country without a need for any quarantine.

So if Singapore and Hong Kong were to have a travel bubble arrangement, Hong Kongers can fly to Singapore and eat chicken rice, and Singapore can fly to Hong Kong Disneyland to see Mickey Mouse without having to serve SHN or quarantine.

For a more in-depth article on travel bubbles, we’ve written one very interesting article about it and why it’s so hard to achieve, which you can read about here.

Details Still Need To Be Worked Out

According to reports, the general features of the air travel bubble have been laid out but details to iron out the kinks are still a work-in-progress.

What is known, however, is that if the air bubble is established, you can travel to Hong Kong even if it’s just for leisure and you don’t have to submit any itinerary for approval, according to a press release by the Ministry of Transport.

Travellers from both sides, however, will have to be tested for Covid-19 before departing from the country.

Specially Dedicated Flights

It’s not just testing.

There will be flights dedicated to travelling within the air travel bubble and travellers, in order to enjoy the “benefits”, will have to take these flights.

It was added that depending on the situation, the number of dedicated flights can be adjusted up or down based on changes in factors like the Covid-19 situation in the other country, and more.

Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung says that both Singapore and Hong Kong have managed the Covid-19 situation well, which gives his ministry the confidence to open Singapore up to Hong Kong.

It Will Be Coming Soon

As for when this agreement will be fleshed out, Mr Ong assures that they’re working with the view to jumpstart this as fast as possible.

Details on the air travel bubble will be worked on “in the coming weeks”.

The launch date as well as details of implementation, Mr Ong added, will be revealed in due time.

While Hong Kong isn’t the first place Singaporeans thought of when it comes to establishing a travel bubble (that honour belongs to South Korea), you got to admit that it’s great to meet a country that didn’t reject us right off the bat, isn’t it?

You might also want to check out the revised border measures that kicked in yesterday (14 Oct 2020) if you’ve missed it.

Watch this for a complete summary of what REALLY happened to Qoo10, and why it's like a K-drama:

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Boon Hun
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