Letters | Singapore and Hong Kong travel bubble: don’t let business needs compromise public health
- Tourism has taken a battering but relaxing travel restrictions may cause infections to rise
- Singapore is not a leading source of visitors for Hong Kong anyway
The greatest difficulty in implementing the travel bubble is to ensure that population movements will not further the virus’ spreading chain. Passengers can travel without quarantine under the travel bubble, raising the possibility that travellers who may have been infected could spread it during the incubation period. The risk of getting an infection may even become higher.
In terms of effectiveness, it is well known that Hong Kong’s tourism is highly dependent on mainland tourists. According to the Hong Kong Tourism Board, nearly 80 per cent of all visitors to Hong Kong are from mainland China, and the second and third top visitor source markets are Taiwan and Japan.
Singapore is not a leading source of visitors. It is, however, one of the major destinations for business travellers from Hong Kong. One can speculate that the key lobby behind the travel bubble opening is the business sector. This is no time to grant special treatment to business travellers. Our energy should be solely targeted at vaccinations for now. Travel to Singapore and beyond is not far off. The time is not now though.
Debbie Wat, Tai Wai