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As both Singapore and Australia roll out their COVID-19 vaccine programmes, talks for the Singapore-Australia travel bubble continue, which might happen by end-2021.
Australian Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Dan Tehan expects the proposed travel bubble between Australia and Singapore to happen towards the end of this year, reported Channel News Asia (CNA).
However, certain measures would have to be implemented prior to launching the travel bubble between the two countries.
“Obviously we want to see a travel bubble with Singapore and that’s something that both countries are aiming for,” he told CNA.
“At this stage, it’s more likely to happen towards the end of this year as we make sure that both countries can fully roll out their vaccination programmes.”
Tehan is on an official visit to the city-state as part of a tour of various countries, including South Korea, Vietnam, the United States and Japan, to strengthen Australia’s trading relationships.
The Australian minister noted that other measures like vaccine certificates would also have to be set in place, adding that officials from both countries will “continue to engage” on this matter.
Tehan had told Melbourne-based newspaper The Age that plans for a potential travel bubble have been put on hold as Australia faces its third wave of COVID-19 cases.
On Monday (12 July), the country registered another record daily hike for 2021 with 112 new COVID-19 cases, due to the highly infectious Delta variant.
Almost all cases were recorded in Sydney, even as the city entered its third week of lockdown.
CNA revealed that around 40% of Singapore’s population have received both shots of the COVID-19 vaccine, while about 11% or 20.5 million of Australia’s adult population have been fully inoculated against COVID-19.
In March, Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs shared that Australia and Singapore were in talks over a possible air travel bubble.
At the time, Australian media also reported that the bubble, which could have included New Zealand, was expected to start by July or August this year.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison in June said the two countries were working on resuming air travel in a “safe and calibrated manner”.
Once the infrastructure for safe travel is in place, they had said then that students from Singapore may be given priority to travel to Australia so that they can pursue or complete their studies.
However, a Singapore Airlines senior executive later told the Sydney Morning Herald that they were no longer working towards a timeline for the travel bubble due to concerns on implementation.
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Cheryl Chiew, Digital Content Specialist at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact her about this story, email: cheryl@propertyguru.com.sg
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