Travel Bubble

The Japanese government has taken a major step towards resuming normal tourism operations after Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced that the country will begin accepting tourists without guides and would increase the daily arrival threshold to 50,000 beginning September 7.

Malaysia’s Ministry of Health (KKM) has introduced a new website that will be updated regularly with COVID-19 travel health protocols for different statuses.

Malaysia will transition towards an endemic phase with COVID-19 on 1 April 2022, according to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

Malaysia’s air vaccinated travel lane (VTL) programme with Cambodia and Thailand will begin on March 15.

Get back on that Bali high! With a three-day quarantine from today and quarantine-free entry from 14 March, now’s a great time to plan a holiday!

Australia reopened its borders to international visitors on February 21, nearly two years after shutting them due to COVID-19.

The authorities of Thailand have announced that they will be reopening their borders to Malaysians soon.

Malaysia’s coronavirus recovery council announced on Tuesday that it has suggested a full reopening of borders as early as 1 March without enforced quarantine for travellers.

Malaysia has resumed sales of Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) air and land tickets to Singapore.

Even more stringent border controls have been instituted throughout Asia in the last week due to the rapid spread of COVID-19’s Omicron variant.

Airlines and bus operators in Malaysia are to temporarily stop selling travel tickets to Singapore under the Vaccinated Travel Lane scheme until 20 January, 2022.

Malaysia has proposed the development of an “appropriate regulatory coherence mechanism to facilitate safe, convenient, and seamless travel at the regional level.”

Indonesia and Malaysia last Wednesday (10 November) agreed to launch a vaccinated travel lane between the two countries in stages, as the COVID-19 pandemic situation improves in both.

Fully vaccinated Malaysians and Singaporeans will soon be able to travel between the two countries without quarantine.

Australia has finally lifted its ban on citizens travelling overseas without permission, while the two largest cities, Sydney and Melbourne, now allow vaccinated Australians to arrive without quarantine of any kind.

Malaysia and Singapore are looking to ease travel restrictions with announcements coming soon.

Cautious reopening. Some Southeast Asian nations (or parts of them) will soon open up to vaccinated travellers after more than a year of being shut since the COVID-19 outbreak.

The Tioman Island and Genting Highlands tourism bubble scheduled to begin on 1 October has been suspended indefinitely.

As soon as the COVID-19 situation in Malaysia shows stable improvement, both nations are keen and ready to revive free travel between us and Singapore.

Indonesia is getting ready to welcome international tourists, and Malaysian police deny 'no cars past 8pm rumour that's been circulating – these and some more travel news from around the world that you may have missed this week!