Countries are trying to reopen their borders for travel to revive the tourism industry while taking precautious steps at the same time. We have gathered the latest news about travel bubbles and corridors between 2 or more countries in Asia-Pacific.
Last updated on 17.05.2021
Australia and New Zealand have reached a travel agreement, known as Trans-Tasman bubble, that allows citizens from these two countries to travel between them, without having to go on quarantine upon arrival, as long as they have been staying in one of the countries, and did not test positive for Covid-19, for at least 14 days before departure.
Taiwan and Palau signed the first Asian travel bubble agreement, since both countries presented really low Covid-19 infection rates. Citizens travelling from one region to another do not need to go on quarantine upon arrival, even though they are obligated to present a negative Covid-19 test before boarding the plane.
From May 17, citizens of New Zealand and Cook Islands are going to be able to travel between the two countries without having to go on quarantine. The bubble already existed since January, as a one-way quarantine-free bubble from the Cook Islands to New Zealand, and now they are making it two-way quarantine-free.
India has established numerous Bilateral Travel Agreements with different countries around the world. The 27 countries are as listed: Afghanistan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Canada, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Iraq, Japan, Kenya, Kuwait, Maldives, Nepal, Netherlands, Nigeria, Oman, Qatar, Russia, Rwanda, Seychelles, Tanzania, Ukraine, UAE, UK, USA and Uzbekistan.
As from the 24th of March 2021, citizens from Niue can travel to New Zealand without having to go on quarantine upon arrival. The governments of both countries are already working on an agreement to turn this one-way travel bubble into a two-way one, in order to not have to go on self-isolation when traveling from New Zealand to Niue.
In order to facilitate short term entries to Singapore, the goverment has established different Save Travel Lanes with the following countries: Australia, Brunei Darussalam, China, New Zealand, Taiwan. These countries can be given different types of agreements for short-term trips to Singapore: Reciprocal Green Lanes (RGL), for business travel and official purposes, or Air Travel Passes (ATP), for non-essencial trips, or both.