Advertisement
Chinese tourists, travel bubbles: how Asia can refloat its battered travel industry
- If the Covid-induced moratorium on travel has left you feeling flat, cheer up
- Even if a vaccine remains a far-off dream, Asian tourist destinations are cautiously beginning to open back up, thanks to some novel ideas
Reading Time:6 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
Entrepreneur Catherine Tok typically leaves Singapore for a holiday six to eight times each year, but she believes her days as an avid traveller are over. At least, that is, until a vaccine for Covid-19 is discovered and border restrictions, quarantine periods and flight disruptions – like the ones that scuppered her trip to Taiwan last month – become a thing of the past.
Advertisement
But a vaccine remains a distant hope. Many experts estimate it will be at least a year before a viable vaccine could be made widely available and some have warned one may never be found.
That’s a depressing thought for people like Tok, 31, who have seen one of their favourite pastimes disappear as if into thin air, but there is yet hope.
Increasingly, countries across the world are floating the idea of forming “travel bubbles”, in which reciprocal nations agree on guidelines that enable their populations to move freely across their borders, just like in those halcyon days before the outbreak of the novel coronavirus.
All of a sudden, “bubble” has become the buzzword for countries hoping to boost their coronavirus-battered economies by restarting their tourism industries.
Advertisement
South Korea and China opened one such bubble on May 1 for business travellers to go between Korea and 10 Chinese regions on a fast-track entry, provided they test negative for Covid-19 before departure and after arrival. Among the first travellers to use the scheme was Samsung Electronics vice-chairman Lee Jae-yong, who made a three-day visit to inspect Samsung Electronics’ chip plant in Xian, Shaanxi province. Korea is seeking to float further bubbles and is in discussions with Vietnam, Hungary, Poland and Kuwait.
Advertisement