Singapore to allow in visitors from mainland China ahead of travel bubble with Hong Kong

From November 6, the island nation is also lifting border restrictions for travellers from the Australian state of Victoria as it looks to boost its battered tourism sector

The initial reaction on Chinese social media to the decision was mixed, with users saying they did not dare travel outside the mainland

Reading Time:4 minutes

China was the top country of origin for international travellers to Singapore in 2019. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 9:34pm, 29 Oct 2020Updated: 9:34pm, 29 Oct 2020

Visitors from mainland China can enter Singapore without having to quarantine starting November 6, the city state announced on Thursday, in a move aimed at boosting its pandemic-battered tourism sector.

China was the top country of origin for international travellers to Singapore in 2019, according to the island nation’s tourism board, accounting for 3.6 million of its 19.1 million overseas visitors that year. Visitors from the mainland spent some S$3.2 billion (US$2.36 million) in the first three quarters of 2019.

However, the initial reaction on Chinese social media to the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore’s (CAAS) announcement was lukewarm, with users asking if they would need to quarantine upon return to the mainland and saying they did not dare to travel outside China.

“Apart from China, where else can I feel safe?” read one comment on popular Chinese microblogging site Weibo, while another user remarked: “These countries count on tourism but they are only thinking of their real daddy now?”

While the initial epicentre of the Covid-19 pandemic was in the Chinese city of Wuhan, the country has since controlled the outbreak within its borders through an aggressive combination of lockdowns and electronic surveillance measures. China currently has more than 91,000 cases of the disease, and has reported 4,739 deaths.