Singapore is trying to open up tourism while keeping COVID-19 case numbers low. Photo: iStock
With coronavirus cases rising globally leading into winter, lockdown measures have further decimated tourism nine months after the pandemic. And while the nations in Asia overall do better than the rest of the world when it comes to keeping their case numbers low, even these hubs have recently struggled to prevent new swings that require strict quarantines and wide travel restrictions.
One standout spot in Asia, however, is that not only has the coronavirus count been kept low lately, but a number of new deals are being announced for locals and some international visitors, paving the way for a possible return to travel at the security remains a priority.
Singapore’s efforts to revitalize the tourism industry are showing other nations the setbacks that will inevitably arise if all travel efforts take place in a pandemic, even with a strong focus on safety.
Quantum of the Seas canceled its “cruise to nowhere” after a passenger tested positive for COVID-19. The test later turned out to be false positive. Photo: AP
After postponing a highly anticipated travel bubble with Hong Kong because of the rising coronavirus cases on that island, Singapore announced this week that it will soon be enabling quarantine-free visits for high-quality business travelers – regardless of their country of origin.
As of January, the city-state will start accepting applications for business trips shorter than two weeks. These high quality business visitors are only allowed to stay at certain facilities for their stay and must be tested prior to travel, upon arrival in Singapore, and throughout their stay, Rachel Loh, Singapore Tourism Board’s regional director for America, said in an email.
Get the latest news and updates emailed straight to your inbox.
The timing of the Hong Kong travel bubble will be re-examined in late December, with the tourism industry hoping the dollar will appreciate, even for minimal gains.
“While the immediate impact on Singapore tourism is likely to be small, we hope that such an agreement will give our aviation industry and tourism businesses a positive boost,” said Loh of the impending Singapore-Hong Kong bubble and the recent addition of Taiwan travel corridors allowed in Singapore.
“Our tourism industry has not stood still in the last nine months. The industry has worked hard to redefine products and experiences,” said Loh. “We hope the introduction of visitors from Taiwan will benefit the spectrum of the tourism industry,” from hotels and tours to retail stores, restaurants and attractions.
The tourism sector in Singapore is typically $ 26 billion a year. By October, according to the Singapore Tourism Analytics Network, only about 15 percent of the typical annual number of visitors had flown across the borders. The island had 1.6 million visitors in January. In October the monthly total was 13,000.
Loh said the details of the city-state’s health protocols, which allow it to create new travel deals while keeping the number of cases down, are diverse and highly technological. To stop the transmission and protect the island, Singapore rigorously expanded testing capacity and capabilities, investing in vaccine research earlier this month to secure the city-state’s doses, and stepping up contact tracing efforts by providing an app called TraceTogether . Singapore calls this app the world’s first national, digital contact tracing measure.
The country has recorded a total of 58,353 confirmed coronavirus cases since March, with the daily case numbers soaring in April and August. Since September 1, the daily number of cases has remained minimal.
The Singaporeans have also benefited from the framework that has allowed some “cruises to nowhere” to bring cruise enthusiasts back to sea for days of travel on non-port cruise lines – and only for a limited number of passengers who have passed and have to test negative for the coronavirus during the trip.
Despite all these efforts, things didn’t go smoothly: a Royal Caribbean cruise to nowhere on the Quantum of the Seas ship had to return to port recently when a positive coronavirus test result came back for an elderly passenger who fell ill. That result was ultimately false positive, health officials confirmed, and the man was not infected.
Cruises to nowhere will continue, Singapore Tourism Board cruise director Annie Chang said in an email. Singapore will continue to require pre-voyage and in-flight testing to detect asymptomatic cases as part of its CruiseSafe certification to operate lines.
Chang said the incident will inform future voyages and prove that the city-state’s emergency protocols are effective for limited return to cruise traffic: “The cruise line’s rapid response gives us the confidence to continue our pilots as planned for safe cruises.”
At the close of 2020, the city-state announced that it was preparing to welcome the World Economic Forum in 2021, which Davos in Switzerland will host the global conference in May. A spokesman for the Singapore Tourism Board said the details of the minutes of that meeting are not yet available, but “attendees must adhere to strict Singapore public health, safe management and distancing measures in place.”
In some ways, the city-state has successfully revived some international vacation trips. Since the local tourism industry reopened in June to accommodate a limited number of international arrivals, many visitors have come from approved areas such as China, Japan, Vietnam, Brunei and South Korea.
And while the island hopes 2021 will be different, its officials are urging patience with the recovery that will come with a vaccine.
“Yes, there will be a recovery in 2021. The question is how far that recovery will happen,” Vivian Balakrishnan, Singapore’s foreign minister, told CNBC.
“But it will be a fallacy, it will be very dangerous to assume that we will work as usual again.”
The Washington Post
Shannon McMahon
December 22, 2020
