The government of Singapore has announced that it will be reopening its borders to an additional 9 countries for quarantine-free travel as the country seeks to rebuild its status as an international aviation hub, and prepares to reach a ‘new normal’ to live with COVID-19.
Reopening to 9 more countries
Starting 19th October 2021, fully vaccinated people from eight countries – Britain, France, Spain, United States, Denmark, Canada, Italy, the Netherlands and South Korea – will be able to enter Singapore without the need to quarantine, if they pass their COVID-19 tests.
The announcement made by the government of Singapore today (9th October 2021) marks a major step in Singapore’s strategy to resume international links. The country is one of the world’s biggest travel and finance hubs and is home to Asian headquarters of thousands of global companies whose executives have long relied on the country’s connectivity.
A total of 83% of Singapore’s population of 5.45 million has been fully vaccinated, making it one of the highest rates in the world.
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Singapore’s travel programme for fully vaccinated travellers begin in September 2021 with Germany and Brunei.
Up to 3,000 travellers will be able to enter the country daily through the vaccinated travel lanes (VTLs), which is a far cry rom the record 19.1 million travellers to the city-state in 2019. Borders remain largely closed to key Asian countries.
Additionally, the Singaporean government also told that the discussion for two-way quarantine-free travel with several more countries is underway.
Philip Goh, Vice President, Asia-Pacific, International Air Transport Association, said:
We hope this further easing of measures and expansion of Singapore’s border reopening will spur other markets to similarly navigate their pathways towards restarting air travel.
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