Travel agents putting together tour packages

Travel agents are putting together itineraries for Germany after receiving inquiries on tour packages for the European nation.

It comes after Singapore on Thursday announced the first quarantine-free leisure travel arrangement in almost 18 months since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

While those in the industry say the demand is not as high as that for the now-scrapped Hong Kong air travel bubble, they are cautiously optimistic that the new Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) arrangement can take off as planned on Sept 8.

For a start, the scheme will allow fully vaccinated travellers, including tourists, to fly into Singapore from Germany and Brunei, without quarantine. They will instead take several Covid-19 tests and fly on designated flights, among other precautions.

In turn, Singapore has also updated its travel advisory to allow for travel to these countries.

Brunei has remained shut off to leisure travel due to the pandemic, but Germany earlier unilaterally opened its borders to Singapore.

This means that fully vaccinated Singapore residents will be able to travel to Germany on any flight, and return on designated VTL flights from Sept 8, to enjoy leisure travel without quarantine.

Mr Jeremiah Wong, senior marketing communications manager at Chan Brothers Travel, said it has received several inquiries since the VTL scheme was announced on Thursday evening.

"At the beginning, we expect most leisure travellers will carefully weigh their decisions to travel based on considerations such as aversion to perceived risk, health and safety concerns," he said.

Mr Wong said Chan Brothers Travel is working with its partners and suppliers in Germany to enhance its tour packages there.

Mr Alan Ang, managing director of EU Holidays and EU Asia Holidays, said that although EU Holidays has received multiple inquiries about tour packages to Germany since the announcement, it is still in discussions with suppliers to set up itineraries.

On whether there are any concerns that the potential for leisure travel to Germany could prove to be a false dawn, as was the case with the Singapore-Hong Kong air travel bubble, Mr Ang said: "It may or may not be so. But we cannot focus on the negative."

Singapore Airlines, which is operating the designated VTL flights, said it has seen an increase in bookings, "but it is too early to see if there is any spike in demand".

Mr Aaron Wong, founder of frequent flier website MileLion, noted that travellers have not snapped up tickets with the same fervour as they did for flights when the Singapore-Hong Kong air travel bubble was announced.

But he said the lower demand for trips to Germany is not surprising, owing to factors such as pricier tickets to the country.

Independent aviation analyst Brendan Sobie of Sobie Aviation said that it is unlikely that the VTL will lead to a significant influx of tourists to Singapore, given the fact that Brunei's borders remain largely closed and the difficulty in attracting leisure visitors from Germany.

But he added that there will still be business visitors and people who want to visit their friends and relatives.

Travellers under the VTL scheme must have remained in Germany and/or Singapore for the last 21 consecutive days prior to departure for Singapore.

Ms Kwee Wei-Lin, president of the Singapore Hotel Association which represents 160 hotels, said: "We hope that more VTLs will be established after we learn from this initial implementation so that we can make informed decisions on welcoming international tourists back to Singapore in a safe and responsible manner."

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