SINGAPORE — Leisure travel between Hong Kong and Singapore could resume in the coming weeks as both cities work to set up a bilateral “travel bubble” that will allow travelers to forgo quarantine.
The two cities — both major business and financial centers in Asia — have suffered economically as the coronavirus pandemic hit tourism and the aviation sector.
But the arrangement will not bring travel volume between the two cities back to what it was before the pandemic, when several flights ploughed the Hong Kong-Singapore route every day, said Edward Yau, Hong Kong’s secretary for commerce and economic development.
“The concept of the bilateral corridor, what’s commonly called air travel bubble, must be one that ensure safety, public health on the one hand; and also facilitating traveling as much as possible,” Yau told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Monday.
Specific details of the travel bubble and its start date are still being worked out, but the secretary said the two cities could start with one flight a day. The flight will only ferry passengers traveling under the bubble between Hong Kong and Singapore, and will not include those transiting through either of the cities, he explained.