Segregated business travel lane key to raising confidence, say observers

The new segregated travel lane arrangement for business meetings is likely to have only a small impact on Singapore's economy, experts said, although it could be important to increasing the country's reputation as a safe place for business.

This is all the more important as Singapore prepares to host the World Economic Forum (WEF) in May next year, which was moved from Switzerland when the WEF decided the Republic was best placed to host the annual high-profile meeting.

Yesterday, the Ministry of Trade and Industry announced a new scheme that will let foreign businessmen travel here to dedicated buildings equipped with facilities to hold meetings with locals, as well as with businessmen from other countries.

It aims to allow those from countries of different Covid-19 risk profiles to meet in a controlled space, boosting Singapore's reputation as a business hub and allowing a tentative resumption of face-to-face meetings.

CIMB Private Banking economist Song Seng Wun said the scheme will be read as proof that Singapore, although not the cheapest place to host business meetings, can be the safest place for international meetings.

He added that "every little initiative to build confidence helps", especially when the $28 billion tourism sector, which includes business travel, has been badly hurt.

Associate Professor Lawrence Loh of the National University of Singapore Business School said it is also only possible because of Singapore's success in the past few months in controlling local transmission of Covid-19. "This is one of the first steps we can take to pivot back to situations where personal interactions are necessary," he said.

Businesses noted that face-to-face interactions remain ideal for building trust and making investment decisions. US aviation company Kelley Aerospace, which recently opened its first base in Seletar, said the speed of key business information exchange has been hindered by Covid-19 constraints on cross-border meetings.

"Face-to-face meetings are still invaluable in facilitating rapid information exchange, executing change and creating strong business partnerships, especially for the upper management," a spokesman said. "We are excited to explore how we can utilise it to ramp our business speed back up."

Mr Lai Chang Wen, co-founder and chief executive of delivery firm Ninja Van, said: "Face-to-face meetings and interactions are essential to building strong and meaningful business relationships, especially in South-east Asia.

"Having this option will complement our current efforts that leverage digital tools and platforms to connect with our business partners across the region."

Recovery on a greater scale, however, will have to await the establishment of more substantial air travel bubbles that include personal and leisure travel, said independent aviation analyst Brendan Sobie of Sobie Aviation.

"The number of passengers generated by the schemes for business travellers, such as the reciprocal green lanes, has so far not been that significant. Travel bubbles open up a much bigger segment," he said.

"Even then, the recovery would be relatively small-scale in the initial phases. There will be no large-scale recovery for at least several months."