Travellers from Thailand, Cambodia, Fiji, Maldives, Sri Lanka and Turkey may enter Singapore under the quarantine-free vaccinated travel lanes (VTLs) next month, joining 21 other countries that are already on the programme.
The scheme will kick in on December 14 for travellers from Thailand, while for the rest it will be enabled from December 16.
According to the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS), arrivals from all 27 VTL countries accounted for about 60 per cent of the total daily arrivals at Changi Airport pre-pandemic.
Along with the additional VTLs, Singapore will raise her daily VTL quota from 10,000 to 15,000 travellers.
According to a CNA report, transport minister S Iswaran said that Singapore’s VTL quotas amount to about one-third of the total pre-Covid flows from these countries.
He added that the VTL scheme will reconnect Singapore with the world while managing the public health risk, and the government will “closely monitor the global public health situation” and “impose additional safeguards as necessary”.
CAAS commented that the “successful implementation of the VTL without compromising public health” gave it the “confidence” to extend the scheme to more countries.
All six VTL countries announced on November 26 have “similar or lower Covid-19 incidence rates” than Singapore and the other VTL countries, it said.
Thailand, Cambodia, Maldives and Sri Lanka have reopened their borders to quarantine-free general travel for vaccinated people.
Fiji will reopen her borders to vaccinated travellers from 40 “partner countries”, including Singapore, from December 1, noted CAAS.
“The VTL with Fiji will allow fully vaccinated travellers from other VTL countries which Fiji has opened to, such as Australia, Canada, France, (South) Korea, the UK and the US, to extend their trip to Singapore without quarantine,” added CAAS.
Destination Gold Coast’s Board of Directors has appointed Adrienne Readings as chair of the tourism body, following the step-down announcement of Paul Donovan, who held the position for 17 years.
Readings will be working closely with the Board and the team at Destination Gold Coast to represent the interests of Gold Coast’s 4,400 tourism businesses and the 35,000 people employed by the sector. She has served on the Board of Destination Gold Coast for 17 years and formerly acted as vice chair.
In total, she possesses more than 30 years’ experience in business events, tourism management and hospitality.
Readings is also the general manager of Australia’s largest regional convention centre, the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre (GCCEC), the first woman to be appointed general manager of an Australian convention centre.
In her role at GCCEC, Readings successfully identified and developed commercial opportunities for the Gold Coast and oversaw the delivery of billions of dollars of economic impact to the region.
Readings said in a press statement: “The next two years is all about our city’s recovery and creating a blueprint for future success to attract more visitors, more often and to grow expenditure for the Gold Coast.
“It has been a heartbreaking 18 months for our industry, but I see so much opportunity ahead of us with the return of interstate visitors in a matter of weeks and eventually international markets, a future pipeline of A$179 million (US$129 million) in business events opportunity for the city as well as working with peers to strengthen the future of the region through new infrastructure, development and city connectivity.”