Singapore has accepted flights from Germany and Phuket has reduced the quarantine period for travelers under the Sandbox program to 7 days from October 1.
Southeast Asian countries are gradually abandoning the "no Covid-19" policy and planning to welcome international visitors back.
Singapore welcomed a flight carrying European tourists in September, after more than 1.5 years of border closure. Under the Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) program, fully vaccinated travelers from Germany and Brunei can travel to Singapore without having to be quarantined if they are negative for four Covid-19 tests. If the program works, Singapore will open many tourism corridors with other countries.
According to Straitstimes, there is currently an increase in demand from German visitors to Singapore according to VTL as bookings increase by 70% with an average stay of 7 days or more.
A tourist on flight SQ325 (the first flight to welcome guests under the VTL program) of Singapore Airlines stands at the baggage area of Changi Airport on September 8. Photo: AFP
In addition, visitors from some parts of Asia can enter Singapore under the Air Travel Pass program without binding vaccination status. Currently, this plan is applicable to people from Hong Kong, Macao, mainland China and Taiwan.
After many delays, plans to open a Travel bubble between Singapore and Hong Kong also stopped in August. The two governments decided to stop the plan because of different anti-epidemic strategies.
Thailand is a pioneer country in Southeast Asia, reopening its borders to tourists from July 1 under the Sandbox program. According to the plan, visitors must be fully vaccinated and have a negative test for Covid-19 before arriving, in order to go to Phuket without isolation.
According to Phuket News, from October 1, visitors under the Sandbox program will be issued a certificate and only have to stay in Phuket for 7 days instead of 14 days. Travelers need to meet the vaccination requirements for a vaccine acceptable to Thailand and at least 14 days before departure. And besides Phuket, tourists who have been vaccinated can visit many other places in Thailand such as Koh Samui, Krabi, Phang-Nga.
On September 27, Thailand announced a plan with 4 phases to welcome tourists in the next 3 months, in which priority is given to reopening famous destinations such as the capital Bangkok. By the end of September, the Phuket Sandbox program received 37,576 visitors, a number far from the target of 100,000 in the first 3 months of opening.
Bhummikitti Ruktaengam, president of the Phuket Tourism Association, said that if the regulations are reviewed, the Sandbox program can be expected to attract up to 300,000 visitors by the end of the year.
Indonesia has also gradually stepped up the program to welcome international guests. The representative of the Ministry of Tourism of this country told CNBC, islands such as Bali, Bintan and Batam are in the testing phase because the vaccination rate, safety procedures, and medical infrastructure have been ensured. However, the opening date has yet to be announced.
Plans to reopen Bali have been postponed several times this year because of outbreaks. Also according to a representative of the Ministry of Tourism on September 17, Bali is still on the right track to open in October to tourists from Korea, Japan, Singapore and New Zealand.
For other countries, international visitors are still unable to travel. The governments of these countries have not announced plans to reopen.
