Creating “travel bubbles” will help the tourism industry recover from the ongoing pandemic, according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
In an Asian Development Blog, ADB Economic Research and Regional Cooperation Department Economist Matthias Helble said travel bubbles are created through an exclusive travel partnership among countries that have controlled the virus to allow tourism between them.
Helble said these agreements will open borders to nationals of travel bubble partner countries. These can be created for business travel only or may also include leisure travel.
“They often specify provisions on health protocols that need to be followed when leaving and entering the territory. Access can be reciprocal or only in one direction. They can be formed between two or more partners,” Helble said.
Helble added that the first travel bubble in Asia and the Pacific was established between the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of Korea on May 1, 2020.
He explained that the agreement is limited to business travelers who are invited by a company in the receiving country.
When traveling to travel bubbles, visitors need to monitor their health for two weeks and get tested for the virus 72 hours before departure from their home country.
Upon arrival, they are tested again and quarantined until the results are obtained. Helble said the China and Korea are currently discussing expansion of this program.
Other travel bubbles under negotiation, Helble said, aim to allow movement of cross-border commuters such as the one between Malaysia and Singapore, while a travel bubble termed “bula bubble” is being created for tourism purposes among Australia, Fiji and New Zealand.
“Our research simulated possible travel bubbles. For example, most tourists in Fiji are from Australia. If Fiji opened to Australia, the gap left by international tourists that could not be filled by domestic tourists would fall from 84 percent to 44 percent, a significant reduction,” Helble said.
However, travel bubbles for tourism can pose challenges since the spread of Covid-19 has not been brought under control in most economies.
Helble said with this, a travel bubble can only be ideal for economies that are already well beyond their probable peak of new infection.
In these instances, Helble said, economies would fare better in the promotion of domestic tourism. He said economies like the Philippines invested $8.5 million in a domestic tourism campaign in early 2020.
In some cases in the region, Helble said domestic tourism has the potential to fully replace foreign visitors. However, if economies are more dependent on the tourism industry, the impact of domestic tourism may not be significant.
“As the pandemic remains unpredictable, maintaining the bubbles will not be a simple undertaking. Even with these two strategies, the tourism industry is therefore likely to struggle until a vaccine is widely available,” Helble said.
“Prior to Covid-19, the tourism industry was one of the region’s most dynamic sectors. Once the pandemic is over, there are many reasons to believe that tourism will resume its vibrancy,” he added.
Image credits: Joshua Berida