In Bali, a plan to reopen to foreign visitors in September was scrapped due to a resurgence in cases while Thailand, another popular tourist destination in Southeast Asia, is taking baby steps, allowing just 1,000 international tourists in October versus the some 3.1 million it hosted the same period last year.
Escalating virus numbers in Hong Kong have meant the air travel bubble with Singapore won’t start until 2021. The arrangement, initially set for Nov. 22, will be reviewed between Christmas and New Year.
In a sign of how desperate residents of Singapore are to go somewhere beyond the island’s tiny confines, escapes including luxury overnight camping at Changi Airport and daycations at beach hotels at Sentosa, an enclave off the south coast, are booked solid.
Seats on Singapore Airlines Ltd.’s superjumbo-turned-pop-up restaurant in October sold out in 30 minutes, with some paying upwards of S$600 ($450) for a meal in a suite on the stationary Airbus SE A380. And the government has launched its own domestic tourism campaign, with S$320 million in credits set aside to encourage residents to support local businesses.
“It’s obviously disappointing, disappointing for those that had travel to Hong Kong planned, and disappointing for those on the cruise,” said Dale Fisher, an infectious diseases physician at Singapore’s National University Hospital who also chairs the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network. “But there needs to be an expectation that things can change because we’re trying to do it safely. This isn’t going to have a fairytale ending and we wake up one day and it’s all over.”
-With assistance from Angus Whitley.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.