Indonesians keen on travelling here for year-end holiday

Indonesian Ingmar Salim will be among the first to arrive in Singapore when the Republic welcomes travellers from his country on Nov 29 under the Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) scheme.

The 31-year-old consultant in leadership development, who is a Singapore permanent resident, had initially booked a flight for Nov 28, but postponed it after Singapore's announcement on Monday, saving himself the need to serve a seven-day stay-home notice in Singapore.

"It's great that I don't have to be quarantined. I don't have to trouble my sister in Singapore to buy me food as she has to work," said Mr Ingmar, who has been in Jakarta since the start of the pandemic almost two years ago.

He said that he also could not wait to watch Suzuki Cup football matches at Bishan Stadium and play floorball with his friends.

Travellers and travel agents in Indonesia cheered the implementation of the quarantine-free travel scheme by Singapore.

For a start, there will be two daily VTL flights between Singapore and Jakarta, and this will go up to four.

Mr Budijanto Ardiansjah, deputy chairman of the Association of the Indonesian Tours and Travel Agencies, said Singapore remains a favourite travel destination in Asia for Indonesians, but hoped the number of Covid-19 cases in the Republic would fall.

"If the situation improves, travel will surely boom in December," he told The Straits Times.

"Indonesians who love shopping in Singapore have inquired about the VTL although they haven't decided yet when to visit Singapore. It's likely at the end of this year."

Under the VTL, travellers entering Singapore do not have to serve a stay-home notice. Instead, they have to test negative for Covid-19 two days prior to departure for Singapore, and upon arrival.

For the pre-departure test, travellers can submit a negative test result from either a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) swab test or a professionally administered antigen rapid test.

Upon arrival, they have to take a PCR test, and can go about their activities if they test negative.

Indonesia, however, remains closed to general travel from the Republic.

Singapore Transport Minister S. Iswaran on Monday said he hopes Indonesia will soon reopen its borders to travellers from Singapore, noting it has already opened its borders to visitors from 19 countries.

Yesterday, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi met her Singaporean counterpart Vivian Balakrishnan in Singapore to discuss bilateral cooperation, in particular, safe travel arrangements including through the VTL, Indonesia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"Both parties agreed to continue discussions on VTL arrangements bilaterally (reciprocally)," it added.

Dr Balakrishnan had told Ms Retno that the scheme was extended to Indonesia based on, among other things, "trust in the system, the continued improvement in the Covid-19 situation in Indonesia and the higher vaccination rate", the statement quoted Ms Retno as saying after the meeting.

He added on Facebook that they had a good discussion on both countries' next steps to "reopen borders and strengthen relations between Singapore and Indonesia".

The two foreign ministers also discussed the creation of a safe travel bubble, particularly from Singapore to the nearby Indonesian tourist island of Bintan, by ferry.

They also discussed the plan to organise a leaders' retreat between President Joko Widodo and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. It was previously reported that this would take place on Bintan.

The statement said: "The two foreign ministers agreed to prepare concrete and beneficial results of the meeting for the two countries."