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SINGAPORE (December 15): Singapore will allow a limited number of business travelers, officials and other “high economic value” travelers from abroad under a “bubble” arrangement that offers a glimpse of what visitors to the Davos conference relocated this year could wait.
The annual World Economic Forum (WEF) will make its Asian debut in May after being moved from its usual home in the Swiss ski resort of Davos over coronavirus safety concerns.
Singapore’s borders have been effectively closed for months as part of strict rules to keep out a virus that is still spreading around the world, and it faces challenges organizing an event that typically draws thousands of people within five months. .
The new agreement, announced on Tuesday, will keep visitors separate to protect against the new coronavirus infection and allow for secure meetings between people from abroad and Singapore.
The first travelers under the agreement will be able to access from the second half of January for stays of up to 14 days, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said in a statement.
The ministry did not specifically mention the WEF event.
Singapore has some agreements with certain countries for restricted travel, but this is the first plan that will be open to visitors from all countries.
Visitors will be screened regularly, will have to stay in five-person “bubbles” in separate facilities, carry contact tracing devices and only meet other guests and Singapore-based people in rooms with floor-to-ceiling dividers.
“This concept of segregation can be applied when we have the WEF,” said Wong King Yin, a tourism specialist at Nanyang Technological University.
The January launch would give authorities time to test the system before the WEF event, he said.
The Commerce Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether the deal was made with the WEF in mind.
Singapore has reported only a handful of local cases of coronavirus infection in the past two months and has earned praise, including from the World Health Organization, for its handling of the outbreak.
The city-state of 5.7 million said on Monday it would receive the first injections of the coronavirus vaccine from Pfizer-BioNTech by the end of the year and hopes to have secured enough vaccines for everyone by the third quarter of 2021.
Model
A short-stay pilot facility being built at a convention center near the airport could be one of the facilities to host WEF travelers.
The four-star equivalent accommodation will have separate entrances, exits and ventilation systems for Singapore-based guests and visitors, said state investor Temasek, who is leading the project to be launched in the first quarter.
Guests will be able to meet their local counterparts or other guests in specially designed meeting rooms equipped with watertight glass panels to reduce the risk of virus transmission.
Meals will be delivered on shelves installed outside of rooms, staff will need to undergo routine testing, and the facility will have automated systems to track contacts and analyze wastewater for early detection of coronavirus infection.
The facility will have more than 1,300 rooms and around 340 meeting rooms when completed in mid-2021.
“This is a good template for the WEF despite the limitations of infection risks and opportunity costs of conducting regular testing and being confined to a particular area or location,” said Prem Shamdasani of the WEF Business School. National University of Singapore.
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