10 Facts About the Segregated Travel Lane Whereby Business Travellers from Any Country Can Come to S’pore

In case you missed it, Singapore’s likely to enter Phase 3 in 13 days’ time on 28 Dec 2020 (provided nothing bad happens lah, of course).

With the easing of measures within Singapore, the current border restrictions will be eased considerably as well.

How considerable? From accepting business travellers from selected countries, Singapore will be receiving business travellers from any country.

Now, before you worry, know that the safety aspect isn’t being neglected by the Singapore Government.

Here’s what you need to know.

1. The Segregated Travel Lane

On 15 Dec 2020, it was reported that Singapore will launch a “segregated travel lane”.

The new travel lane, also known as the Connect@Singapore initiative, is aimed at short-term business travellers and accepts them from all countries.

2. Who Is It Open To?

According to the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI), the new lane is open to “a limited number of business, official and high economic value travellers from all countries”.

They are only allowed to stay in Singapore for up to 14 days.

Applications for the new lane will start in the middle of January 2021 and Singapore can expect to start receiving them in the second half of January.

These visitors are not required to undergo any quarantine period.

3. Inspiration Behind The New Lane

According to Minister Chan Chun Sing, the idea of the segregated lane was inspired by the current situation.

In an online media conference, minister Chan pointed out how the current pandemic has impacted global travel, “especially global business travel”.

Because of quarantine measures, people in different countries cannot meet up for business activities.

With the segregated lane, businessmen from all over the world can come to Singapore to meet with their partners.

Because they are required to undergo the mandatory checks, both parties can conduct their business in peace knowing that both they and the other party is safe.

Think of it as Singapore trying to become the new meeting hub for businesses in Southeast Asia.

4. Medical Processes Still Needs To Be Kept To

Throughout their 14-day stay in Singapore, travellers in the segregated lane will be housed in dedicated facilities.

They will also need to undergo all the required medical checks and obey all the safe management measures implemented in Singapore, including SafeEntry and downloading TraceTogether.

This includes providing a negative Covid-19 test before leaving their home country, undergo another polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test upon arrival in Singapore, and have rapid antigen tests on days 3, 5, 7, and 11 after their arrival in Singapore.

5. Limit Of Five Still Applies

As the name “segregated” suggests, the travellers under this new scheme will be separated from other individuals.

Unlike people on green travel lanes, travellers under the segregated travel lane don’t have as much freedom to roam the streets of Singapore.

Travellers will have to stay with their pre-travel declared group of up to five travellers within segregated facilities and are not allowed to mingle with other groups of travellers.

Meetings with local visitors, as well as other traveller groups, will be conducted within the facility with safe distancing measures in place.

For safe distancing measures, you can check out #8 (hint: it’ll sound like an overkill).

6. Segregated Facilities

So, speaking about segregated facilities, where are they going to be?

The first one that’s in the midst of discussion is very near the Changi Airport: Connect@Changi.

Temasek announced, in a separate press release, the development of a short-stay facility (Connect@Changi) at Singapore Expo and Max Atria.

The facility will help facilitate business exchanges between Singapore residents and international travellers, Temasek said.

The first phase of the pilot will launch in the first three months of 2021.

MTI added that more segregated facilities will be named “in the next few weeks” and urge interested operators to submit proposals to the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) by the end of the month if they’re interested in turning their business into a segregated facility.

7. Changi@Connect

Connect@Changi is a four-star facility developed by a team led by Temasek.

Members of the consortium include The Ascott Limited, Changi Airport Group, Sheares Healthcare Group, SingEx and Surbana Jurong.

The first phase of the facility, which is located at Singapore EXPO Halls 7 and 8, will be ready to receive visitors in Feb 2021.

There will be 670 premium guest rooms and 170 meeting rooms.

The meeting rooms vary in sizes and can accommodate from 4 to 22 people.

When the short-stay facility is completed in mid-2021, it’ll have more than 1,300 guest rooms and 340 meeting rooms.

For a stay under three days, an Executive room costs S$390 per night while a Premium room costs S$430 per night.

The price includes the cost of testing, three meals a day and airport transfer to and from the facility.

It was added that Connect@Changi will create around 800 jobs for Singaporeans.

8. Safety Measures In Place

For the short-stay facility, the group promises that “meticulous protocols and procedures” will be implemented to safeguard the health of both guests and employees.

There will be self-service meeting rooms and no-contact meal delivery to minimise interactions between the staff and guests.

Everything else will be separated as well.

This includes entrances, exits and ventilation systems for both the guests and people in Singapore visiting the travellers.

Meeting rooms will also be fitted with air-tight glass panels for complete separation.

It’s not just at the facility.

According to a spokesperson for Temasek, there will also be “separate facilities for checking in passengers and checking out with passengers”.

This means that after the travellers clear immigration, they’ll be separated from other individuals all the way until they’re in their rooms.

9. People Are Interested

It was reported that about 15% of daily travellers to Singapore now are business travellers.

A majority of those stays for five days or less.

It was added that a “huge chunk” of business visitors visiting Singapore comes from countries that don’t have a green lane arrangement with our country.

This means that most of them have to undergo quarantine before they can meet with local partners.

The spokesperson for Temasek believes that the data shows a need for this type of facility.

“If you have a look at the composition of business travellers to Singapore, probably more than half of those are coming from countries in the region where currently there’s still a fairly high incidence rate of COVID-19.”

In fact, he said, some multinational companies have already said they’re interested in holding regional meetings in the facility.

10. Adding To S’pore’s Reputation As A Hub

Other than tourism, Singapore has also been trying to boost its Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Events (MICE) sector over the past year.

Other than holding a successful exhibition pilot event, Singapore has also managed to impress the world enough to hold the World Economic Forum in Singapore in 2021.

The organisers of the meeting decided upon Singapore after they decided to hold the meeting outside of Switzerland due to the Covid-19 pandemic and evaluate various possible locations’ Covid-19 situations.

Should the segregated travel lane be successful, this might just help Singapore ascend another step up the ladder to becoming the regional hub of Southeast Asia.

P/S: Doesn’t that just sound like the reason why Singapore became prosperous back in the past?

Featured Image: kandl stock / Shutterstock.com