Add Singapore to your travel bubble list of potential destinations Australians could be travelling to soon because it’s starting to sound like we could be headed there from this July.
“Yes, we’ve heard it all before,” You might say.
But this time around there seems to be a healthier appetite for action rather than just talk from the federal government.
Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack says Australia is now working with Singapore to open up an international travel bubble and believes others will open as the COVID-19 vaccine rolls out.
New Zealanders have enjoyed a travel bubble with Eastern Australian states since last year that does away with 4-day quarantine, but NZ is still yet to commit to reciprocating.
“We are working with Singapore at the moment, potentially for a bubble in July,” Mr McCormack, who is also transport minister, told the ABC’s Insiders program.
“As the vaccine rolls out not only in Australia but in other countries, we will reopen more bubbles.”
According to Nine newspapers, Australians would be allowed to travel to Singapore without approval from the Department of Home Affairs, provided they have been vaccinated for coronavirus.
Singaporeans who have had the jab would be able to travel to Australia without having to complete two weeks of hotel quarantine.
It may also be possible for people from other countries to enter Australia via Singapore after completing quarantine in the Southeast Asian city-state.
The news follows Singapore last week launching a Safe Travel eXchange “bubble” business hotel that allows executives to do face-to-face meetings without risk of exposure to the coronavirus, in one of the world’s first such facilities.
The hotel, called Connect@Changi, will allow business travellers to dodge Singapore’s mandatory 14-day quarantine — as long as they don’t leave the facility.