Travel plans redrawn as Singapore, Thailand restrict entry over Covid-19

Singapore announces restrictions till January 20; Thailand halts quarantine-free entry to all its regions except Phuket.

Indian travellers are reworking their yearend plans after Singapore and Thailand limited the entry of foreign nationals for fear of the coronavirus pandemic.

On Wednesday, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore asked airlines to stop selling new tickets on vaccinated travel lane flights. A day before that Thailand halted quarantine-free entry to all its regions aside Phuket.

Singapore’s restrictions will continue from December 22 to January 20. Vaccinated passengers holding tickets on VTL flights from Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai can travel to Singapore without quarantine but fresh bookings are on hold for these flights.

“We continue to closely monitor the evolving situation to best advise our customers,” said Rajeev Kale, president and country head (holidays), Thomas Cook India.

EaseMyTrip, the online travel website, said people had put new bookings to Thailand and Singapore on hold but were not cancelling yet.

“We were expecting a good number of bookings as Singapore and Thailand are amongst the preferred places to celebrate Christmas and New Year. However new bookings to Singapore are on hold due to the new variant and Thailand has also reinstated mandatory quarantine. We are hopeful that the situation will improve soon,” said Rikant Pittie, co-founder of EaseMyTrip.

MakeMyTrip said travel to Singapore was yet to pick up but it was seeing increase in search queries for Thailand. The company said it will continue providing air charter service to Phuket for Christmas and New Year’s Eve but expects travellers to postpone their plans.

Cholada Siddhivarn, Director, Tourism Authority of Thailand, said Indian travellers could travel to the country via Phuket.

“Phuket remains open for Indian travelers under the Phuket sandbox scheme. Under this program, travelers will only need to do a PCR test and wait in the hotel until the result is received. If tested negative, they can then move around in Phuket. The second RT PCR test will be done on the 5-6th day post which they can travel to other parts of Thailand after completing seven days of stay in Phuket (and will not be required to be quarantined) or return to their home country,” she said.

“We have just altered the entry rules for people entering our country from different entry points except for Phuket. The step comes in after the rise in new variant cases. We believe it is better to take necessary precautions while we still are ready to welcome travelers from different parts of the world," she added.