Singapore-Hong Kong travel bubble: tourists could spend US$600 on four Covid-19 tests

When news of the Singapore-Hong Kong travel bubble broke last week, Tan Wei Sheng rushed to book a December flight to the city before pent-up demand sent prices surging.

The cost of his business class ticket was offset by his miles redemption, but the 40-year-old Singaporean doctor would also have to fork out about S$200 (US$150) for Covid-19 testing, and it is unclear yet just how many of these polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests he would have to take.

As part of the in-principle agreement for the travel bubble, eligible travellers would not have to serve a quarantine or stick to a predetermined itinerary, but would need to take pre-departure tests.

But in making the announcement last Thursday, Singapore’s transport minister Ong Ye Kung also said that “each territory, each party, should be also free to impose their own administrative arrangements”. He listed on-arrival testing as one example.

“Clearly, the maximum number of times of testing that travellers could be faced with could be four tests, meaning two pre-departure and two post-arrival tests when travelling between Singapore and Hong Kong,” said Teo Yik Ying, the dean of National University of Singapore’s (NUS) Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health.