Where can you fly right now? Covid zero rethink spurs Asian travel

With some countries in Asia starting to frame Covid-19 as a disease that needs to be managed rather than stamped out, there’s hope 2021 may not be the total travel writeoff feared a few months ago. Speaking in parliament earlier this week, Singapore Finance Minister Lawrence Wong said that while the coronavirus is unlikely to go away any time soon, rising vaccination rates and improving treatments mean it can be thought of “more like influenza.” Similarly, Australian PM Scott Morrison has promised a “new deal” that would shift the country’s strategy from suppressing the coronavirus to managing it. Thailand, meanwhile, has reopened the tropical island of Phuket to holidaymakers, so long as they’re vaccinated, and on Tuesday, Hong Kong CE Carrie Lam, mulling the start of a long-anticipated travel bubble with Singapore, indicated both sides should require inoculation as a precondition for participating. And India has increased domestic flight capacity to 65% from 50% as its recent wave of infections ebbs. Such moves are buoying expectations about freer travel toward the end of the year. For now, Asia can only look on in envy as people crowd tourist hotspots in Europe and New York gets back to business. But there’s hope that by Christmas, borders can start to reopen. “We’re seeing an acknowledgment, including in countries where there have been a lot of strict restrictions, that this is a virus that doesn’t fully disappear and instead is one we live with and manage,” said David Mann, chief Asia economist at Mastercard Economics Institute. Restrictions will be on a loosening trend if you take a six- to 12-month view, especially in places where they’re making progress on vaccinations.”<br/>