Singapore fun lah

Hong Kong and Singapore have signed an agreement to start a reciprocal "air travel bubble," with details to be hammered out in the next few weeks.

Travelers from the two areas will have to test negative from mutually recognized Covid-19 chain-reaction tests before heading to the other destination.

Under the travel bubble, people are required to travel on dedicated flights. The flights will only serve travelers between the two regions, and no transit passengers will be allowed on board.

Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Edward Yau Tang-wah said travelers will not be subject to any quarantine, stay-home requirements or controlled itineraries.

"There are no restrictions on travel purpose, meaning traveling is not limited to business travelers," Yau said.

The bubble can be scaled by adjusting the number of dedicated flights up or down, or even suspended, in line with the latest developments and the Covid-19 situation in the two cities.

The launch date and implementation details have yet to be announced.

Yau said he hoped to use the coming few weeks to put in place all the requirements for legislative amendments, arrangements with airlines and mutual recognition of testing protocols.

"Aside from getting tested, travelers would have to make sure they have not been to other regions for a while, usually within 14 days," Yau said.

Travelers would have to get tested before departure and after arrival, as Singapore has testing facilities in its airports and across the city.

In response to how many times a traveler should get tested, Yau said before traveling he or she must take a mutually recognized Covid-19 test within 72 hours and get a negative result. Then travelers can use this result to purchase tickets. Upon arrival, both regions have the right to request travelers take another test.

Yau said there are testing facilities at Singapore's airport and across the city-state, while Hong Kong has 17 testing facilities, including hospitals.

Hong Kong has been discussing establishing travel bubbles with 11 countries, including Japan and Thailand, since June, Yau said, but Singapore is the first to have reached a mutual agreement.

The "bubble" agreement was reached during a videoconference on Wednesday between Yau and Singaporean Minister for Transport Ong Ye Kung.

Ong said yesterday he hoped the bubble would start in weeks. He told Bloomberg that the global aviation industry will take at least two years to recover from the pandemic and for mass travel to return.

He stressed the importance of developing a widely available and effective vaccine to help countries open their borders.

Singapore Airlines welcomed the bubble, saying it will announce "the details in the forthcoming days."

A Cathay Pacific spokesman said: "This is a milestone development for Hong Kong and an important first step in facilitating the resumption of regular air travel to and from our home hub."

Hong Kong Tourism Board chairman Pang Yiu-kai said Singapore was one of the major source markets for Hong Kong's tourism industry in 2019, with more than 450,000 arrivals from the Lion City.

That came as a Hong Kong poll of 518 travel agencies showed satisfaction with the government's progress in promoting the health code and travel bubble came in at just 1.81 in a zero-to-10 band, with the latter indicating extreme satisfaction.

The poll of 30 percent of agencies was conducted by Hong Kong Travel Agents' Relief Alliance from October 7 to 9.

Alliance convener Perry Yiu Pak-leung said the low rating was due to the government's slow progress in promoting the health code and travel bubble as it has been in talks for more than four months.

"The establishment of the travel bubble signifies that other countries have confidence in Hong Kong," Yiu said. "I hope the government can lower the Covid-19 testing cost because if it is too high, it will limit people's desire to travel."

Currently, all non-Hong Kong residents coming from overseas countries and regions by plane are denied entry. All travelers from the mainland, Macau and Taiwan are subject to a 14-day compulsory quarantine.