'A disorderly restart with changing and confusing requirements' will have longterm negative impact, says IATA’s Vinoop Goel.

In the first year of the pandemic, it seemed that the Asia Pacific region, with its early success in managing the spread of infections, would be among the first to make a comeback in travel.

But as the pandemic took its twists and turns, Asia, with its strict border controls, started to lag behind and three years in, the region has become the laggard in travel recovery, with some of the strictest travel restrictions still in place especially in North Asia while countries in Europe have declared it’s time to live with the virus and remove all restrictions.

In the past weeks though, borders in South-east Asia as well as Australia and even New Zealand are creaking open, unfortunately with varying rules of entry and pacing that will no doubt confuse travellers eager to revisit the region.

Cambodia led the way last November 15 with the simplest conditions for entry – as long as you are vaccinated and do a simple test on arrival, you are free to wander. The Philippines is set to take a similar approach February 10. Malaysia is looking to reopen without quarantine rules from March. Australia has announced that from February 21, its borders will reopen to foreigners – with quarantine rules to be set by each state. Vietnam is likely looking at March or April. Bali has started welcoming international flights, but with a four-day quarantine in place, appetite, however hungry, could be dampened. Thailand has restarted its Test and Go scheme, but introduced a second test on Day 5, which will no doubt deter some travellers. Singapore, meanwhile, is still clinging onto its calibrated Vaccinated Travel Lane approach, quotas of which were halved with the onset of the omicron variant and a daily testing regime still in place on return.

Through these turbulent years, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has been lobbying governments to follow the science in opening borders and to collaborate and harmonise policies as well as introduced its own IATA Travel Pass to help facilitate cross-border travel. IATA has also developed a blueprint for safe reopening by States implementing simple, predictable, and practical measures.

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