S’pore Looking to Establish Travel Bubbles With Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand, Brunei & China

It may be premature, but perhaps the time has come to wipe the dust and cobwebs off our passports, let it bask in some sunlight again. 

You may have been elated over the announcement of Singapore’s air travel bubble with Hong Kong which is starting on 26 May. 

And now, Singapore is looking to establish air travel bubbles with Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand, Brunei and China.

Here’s all that you need to know. 

S’pore Looking to Establish Travel Bubbles With Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand, Brunei & China

According to Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung at a press conference on Monday (26 Apr), authorities in Singapore have submitted a proposal to Taiwan for the establishment of an air travel bubble. 

A proposal to mutually recognise vaccination certificates between both countries has also been submitted. 

According to Mr Ong, Singapore is also looking towards establishing air travel bubbles with Australia, New Zealand, Brunei and mainland China. 

Currently, travellers from these locations (including Taiwan) do not need to serve the 14-day Stay Home Notice (SHN) upon arrival in Singapore. 

Under the Air Travel Pass arrangement, they are required to take a COVID-19 test upon arrival and self-isolate at their place of accommodation while waiting for their test results. 

According to Mr Ong, there has been no evidence to suggest that travellers from these areas have resulted in community cases, hence these are “natural partners” that Singapore would like to establish air travel bubbles with.

However, Mr Ong also added that the rise in COVID-19 cases will lead to air travel bubbles being disrupted. He raised the example of Singapore’s upcoming travel bubble with Hong Kong. 

Responding to a query on whether it was a good time to launch a travel bubble especially when New Zealand had suspended its travel bubble with Western Australia multiple times, Mr Ong said that, “You can’t say for sure that everything will be smooth sailing.” 

“Even in New Zealand and Australia, at the point of launching the bubble, both governments also told their populations that ups and downs are to be expected. I think that is the nature of this pandemic.”

New Requirements for Hong Kong Travel Bubble 

More stringent requirements will be imposed on travellers for the Hong Kong travel bubble. 

Travellers who have served SHN or quarantine after returning from overseas two weeks before their departure to Hong Kong or Singapore are no longer able to travel. 

Additionally, people from Hong Kong coming to Singapore must be vaccinated. However, people from Singapore do not have to adhere to the same requirement. 

When questioned why this was so, Mr Ong explained that Singapore had “quite a good response” to its vaccination programme which was rolled out earlier this year. 

He said that Hong Kong probably wanted to incentivise people to get vaccinated, hence the implementation of the additional requirement. 

Feature Image: Avigator Fortuner / Shutterstock.com