The 'COVID-19' coronavirus pandemic has crippled many industries. One of the most affected, is aviation.
The industry is affected not because of the significant lowered demands, but because of travel restrictions many governments around the world are imposing to their residents.
This is why the travel industry, and tourisms, have been greatly hit in a way that they never experienced before.
But the economy must go on, and the governments know this.
This is why some have started to create the 'flights to nowhere', where flights depart and arrive at the same airport. Then there are the 'Air Travel Bubbles', which keep flights to happen only in limited countries or cities.
As for the latter, Hong Kong and Singapore that kept their borders tightly closed with residents unable to travel because of strict quarantines rules, are starting to allow fights to happen between them.
And this moment created a surge in demand.
This ‘Air Travel Bubble’ between Hong Kong and Singapore aims to allow travels between the two cities to happen for any reason – even vacations. This, as long as they can provide a negative PCR test result.
The flights don't allow transit passengers, and have no controlled itineraries.
And also, travelers aren't required to quarantine themselves upon arrival.
Previously, Singapore has already set travel arrangements with a number of other territories. None however, allows leisure travel.
Because of this, the travel agreement between Hong Kong and Singapore quickly created a surge in internet flight searches by Hong Kongers, jumping to a record height of 400%.
The aviation industry expects this rush of interest, by prompting a spike in airfares.
Expedia for example, said that it saw the three-digit surge in customers seeking a Singapore getaway, while the Washington Post review of fares for dates in December 2020 showed that prices had shot up by at least 57% in just 24 hours following the news.
The in-principle agreement to establish the bilateral travel bubble between the Hong Kong and Singapore, is seen as the world’s first two-way arrangement of its kind, that according to Singapore’s transport chief.
"Singapore has consistently remained one of the top ten destinations among Hong Kong travelers over the years,” said Ang Choo Pin, Expedia Group’s senior director of Asia government and corporate affairs, explaining the historic popularity of the Lion City in a statement.
“We have seen an increase of searches to Singapore by 400% on Expedia.com.hk. This is a healthy indication that there’s a strong appetite, eagerness and trust among our consumers to travel again.”
With the ‘Air Travel Bubble’ between Hong Kong and Singapore, the two are literally reviving the world's 17th busiest international link.
In 2019, Hong Kong received more than 450,000 arrivals from Singapore, according to the city’s tourism board, while its counterpart in the city state said that it had 489,000 visitors from Hong Kong the same year.
The agreement between the two follows both Singapore and Hong Kong in reporting low coronavirus infection rates.
“This is a milestone in our efforts to resume normalcy while fighting against the long-drawn battle of COVID-19,“ said Edward Yau, Hong Kong’s Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, in the statement. Ong Ye Kung, Singapore’s Minister for Transport, called this agreement a “significant” move forward.
“It is a safe, careful but significant step forward to revive air travel, and provide a model for future collaboration with other parts of the world,” he added.
Elsewhere in the world, travel bubbles are also being set up. For example, there are agreements between London and New York, and Australia and New Zealand. Japan is also creating a limited travel bubble with a handful of Asian regions. However, all of those arrangements come with more restrictions than the Hong Kong-Singapore bubble.
It should be noted that still, this freedom of traveling depends on how under control the coronavirus's spread is. The agreement is subjected to change should Hong Kong or Singapore experience a spike in infections.
