Daily flights will be operated by Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific. (Representative)
Hong Kong:
The “travel bubble” agreed between Hong Kong and Singapore will open on Nov. 22, their governments said on Wednesday, in rare good news for the pandemic-stricken tourism industry.
A quota of 200 residents from each city will be able to travel on a daily flight to the other, Hong Kong Commerce Minister Edward Yau said at a press conference.
Only those who have been in Hong Kong or Singapore for two weeks and who have tested negative for Covid-19 will be allowed to board, he added.
The Travel Corridor offers insight into how places where outbreaks are less severe might be able to safely restart some trips.
Passengers arriving in Hong Kong will need to test negative again at the airport to avoid quarantine, while those arriving in Singapore will need to download a contact tracing app.
Daily flights will be operated by Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific.
If either city reports a daily average of more than five new cases from untraceable sources over a week, the travel bubble will be suspended for two weeks, Yau said.
He added that if no peak cases were reported, the quota for flights between the two regional air hubs would be increased to two per day from each city from December 7.
Singapore Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung said the arrangements would be “as close as possible to pre-Covid travel”.
Singapore is a major market for Hong Kong’s tourism industry with more than 450,000 registered visitor arrivals in 2019, according to the Hong Kong Tourism Board.
Internet searches for travel-hungry Hong Kong people have jumped more than four times after the travel bubble plans were announced last month, causing ticket prices to rise more than 50%, according to the travel company. Expedia line.
(This story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
