Coronavirus: Travellers flocking to Singapore, Malaysia and Southeast Asia as Covid-19 curbs eased
- Singapore’s Changi Airport handled 1.14 million passengers in March, the first time the figure climbed above 1 million since the start of the pandemic
- 307 flights a week are expected from Malaysia to Singapore at the end of May, more than double the 152 at the start of the year
Southeast Asia is finally, tentatively throwing off the shackles of Covid-19 and reopening for travel, with airlines filling an increasing number of seats as holiday-starved masses arrange overseas holidays for the first time in two years.
While the region lags behind other places such as North America and Europe that reopened sooner, the upwards momentum gathered pace in April. Ticket bookings are rising as popular tourist destinations like Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia allow quarantine-free entry for vaccinated travellers again.
“April has been a very important month for Southeast Asia,” said Gary Bowerman, director of travel and tourism research firm Check-in Asia. “The optimism is back, people are now thinking and talking about travelling the way they weren’t before. Just look at the search volumes that are happening.”
Google searches related to travel to Singapore have jumped, particularly from neighbouring Malaysia, as well as Indonesia, India and Australia, according to data tracked by economists at Maybank Investment Bank Bhd. Searches rose about 20 per cent since the last week of March.
Air-passenger traffic to Singapore reached 400,000, or 31 per cent of pre-Covid levels, in the week ending April 17 after most travel restrictions for fully-vaccinated people were lifted at the start of the month, according to the country’s civil aviation authority.
In Thailand, where international tourism contributes about 15 per cent to gross domestic product, the number of foreign visitors rose 38 per cent in March from February after a relaxation of requirements on testing and health insurance, according to the tourism ministry. Thailand eased entry rules for vaccinated travellers from April 1 and plans to replace mandatory polymerase chain reaction tests with antigen ones for foreign visitors on May 1.
The number of visitors to Thailand reached 358,364 from April 1-27, according to the Center for Covid-19 Situation Administration. Travellers from Singapore accounted for the most, followed by the UK, India, Germany and Australia. The government said on April 27 it expects tourism arrivals to reach 6.1 million this year, compared with only 427,869 in 2021. The figure was 40 million in 2019.