Australia likely to form a travel bubble with certain Asian countries

The country plans to "proceed with caution" with respect to opening up its borders

New Delhi | November 16, 2020 09:00 PM IST

2 min read

travel bubble, Australia travel bubble, travel bubbles with Asian countries, travelling, pandemic, indian express news

While almost all international travel is banned to and from Australia, a list of 'bubble nations' could reopen borders. (Source: Pixabay)

The pandemic has been on for many months now, and it does not look like it is going to end anytime soon. As such, people around the world have become increasingly restless — not being able to travel anywhere — looking for ways to keep their wanderlust alive by means of virtual travelling and smaller escapades within the country.

In the last few months, many countries encouraged their citizens to take ‘trips to nowhere’ by either flying within the borders without really landing anywhere for a few hours, or sailing in the waters of the country. Many others also worked their way around travel bubbles — forming one with one or more countries, within the prescribed safety guidelines. Among them is Australia which, it was recently reported, had formed a one-way travel bubble with New Zealand. The arrangement is not reciprocal, meaning quarantine-free travel is only allowed for those travelling to Australia from New Zealand and not vice versa, an Independent report stated.

Now, Australia is keen to form travel bubbles with some Asian countries as well. According to The Independent, while almost all international travel is banned to and from Australia, a list of ‘bubble nations’ could reopen borders. In fact, Singapore, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, along with Fiji and New Caledonia, are being considered as potential destinations.

ALSO READ | Hong Kong, Singapore create world’s first ‘reciprocal travel bubble’; find out more

“The situation in Europe and the United States is awful, and obviously that presents great risks for people coming in from those parts of the world to Australia. But out of many parts of Asia, particularly in North Asia, places like Taiwan and I would also say provinces of China, Singapore… [we are] looking at what alternative arrangements could be had to channel visitors through appropriate quarantine arrangements for low-risk countries,” Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison was quoted as saying.

When it comes to opening borders, he said the country will “proceed with caution”.

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