Singapore-Australia travel bubble to be postponed till the end of 2021

Singaporeans anticipating their travel to Australia will have to wait until the end of this year before being able to enter its borders.

Originally scheduled to begin in the next few weeks, the planned travel bubble between Singapore and Australia has been delayed until the end of 2021, announced Australian Trade and Tourism Minister Dan Tehan on Sunday (Jul 11).

The travel bubble was halted by mutual agreement as Australia’s COVID-19 vaccine programme lags and Sydney deals with a worsening outbreak of the virus.

Mr Tehan said that the Singapore-Australia travel bubble still remained a priority despite the delayed timeline due to unforeseen circumstances.

“It’s very difficult to put a time frame on it, but when you look at the plan that Singapore has put in place and you put it alongside the plan that the Prime Minister has announced, the hope might be towards the end of the year that you could look at a travel bubble with Singapore,” he said.

National governments and international bodies such as the International Air Transport Association (IATA) are also evaluating ways to develop safe international travel. 

Mr Tehan has yet to provide an exact timeline for how long vaccine passports will be required for international travel.

In the Singapore-Australia travel bubble, travellers from both nations would have been able to travel freely between the two countries without strict quarantine or Stay-Home Notice (SHN) requirements.

Over 10 per cent of Australians are fully vaccinated, with 30 per cent having received their first jab.

On the other hand, Singapore has fully vaccinated over 35 per cent of its population, with more than 60 per cent of people receiving their first jab.

In addition, 77 new COVID-19 cases were reported in Australia’s New South Wales, which houses Sydney, on Sunday.