"Entry only if essential international travel" (Tourism is dead!)

[martincymru]

Seems clear that non-essential travel is off limits for a very long time in SE Asia. You agree?

[PNGMK]

It will come back in a rush as soon as one or two countries open up as the other's won't want to lose out (with perhaps the exception of Australia). By Christmas I expect we will be able to travel to most places.

[bgd]

I'm not so sure. Things seem to change very quickly. Only Wednesday things were going to be shut until June end or longer and now today there is talk of mid June. Many ASEAN countries survive on tourism and they will be wanting those tourists back as quickly as possible. That will be a big driver.

[x9200]

The 2nd wave of infections is expected around August-September. I reckon, only after this there will be enough data to speculate.

[abbby]

Yeah, agree with bgd things seem to change very quickly. I do hope it comes early and for the better..

For non-essential travel, I think they're slowly opening up in phases for air travel as well.

[PNGMK]

The press is talking more and more about travel opening. It's going to happen.

[bgd]

I've seen mention of business travel first, with selected countries.

[BigginHill]

The 2nd wave of infections is expected around August-September. I reckon, only after this there will be enough data to speculate.

Agreed. I think we're talking end of year, unfortunately.

I don't see anything but grave hesitation of opening borders at the moment. Sure, there's all this talk (and still only talk) of regional green zones, travel bubbles etc, but those only target essential travel.

At the very least, I don't see SG opening up for general inbound travel until well after completing phase 2 of the "new" circuit breaker (3 months from now?), and even then there's still going to be quarantine and testing requirements. We'll see.

[sundaymorningstaple]

Definitely not for tourist travel but business travelers will have 'some' access to China apparently.

https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east- ... or-flights

[Jgrif96229]

If you look at Matina Bay Sands website you will see reservations from August 1rst. I am sure 1000 plus rooms are not going to fill with Singapore staycations. The same for Resorts World Sentosa. I am not so sure if MBS is going to get that many guests who are going to quarantine for 2 weeks no matter how nice the property.

Guests coming to MBS are going to want to visit Gatdens by the Bay. All these properties employ thousands of workers in the Singapore economy. I am sure there is a plan even if it means a phase 4.

[PNGMK]

I wouldn't rely too much on hotel reservation websites JGrif. I've seen them chop and change a lot. I've been hanging out for a Raffles Hotel staycation myself and have had two bookings I've had to shift already.

[bgd]

Booking.com was showing no change in prices and flashing the usual "1 room left" message for Jakarta even though the whole city was shutdown. Haven't checked recently but PNGMK is right, don't trust the online sites.

On a slightly positive note, SIA is restarting flights to NZ this week. Sounds like they are freight only flights (with passenger planes) but it's a start.

[PNGMK]

Booking.com was showing no change in prices and flashing the usual "1 room left" message for Jakarta even though the whole city was shutdown. Haven't checked recently but PNGMK is right, don't trust the online sites.

On a slightly positive note, SIA is restarting flights to NZ this week. Sounds like they are freight only flights (with passenger planes) but it's a start.

Actually that concerns me. It mean we may have pending food shortages (NZ is a major ag exporter).