Indonesian government officials and hospitality operators in Batam
and Bintan are in unanimity that they are ready for a bilateral travel
bubble with Singapore.
Since Indonesia announced the Batam-Bintan-Singapore (BB-S) travel
bubble on 24 January, the two holiday islands have been busy firming up
its safety protocols and adding extra layers of safeguards for each step
of a traveller's journey.
In
a discussion forum hosted by the Ministry of Tourism and Creative
Economy of the Republic of Indonesia on Tuesday, 8 February, tourism
players based in Batam and Bintan detailed the specifics of the travel
bubble, including the zones that have been delineated on each island to
cater specifically to tourists, and step-by-step instructions on the
travel procedures.
Every traveller that enters under the BB-S scheme will be allocated
either the BluePass token (for Bintan) or asked to download the
PeduliLindungi app (for Batam) that identifies them as a travel bubble
tourist. There will also be “border controls” situated along the
circumference of the designated zones to prevent cross-contact with
others outside of the travel bubble arrangement.
According to Abdul Wahab, group general manager of Bintan Resort
Cakrawala, Bintan Beach International Resort (BBIR) has an in-house lab
that can process each arriving guest’s mandatory Covid-19 PCR test
within an hour. Meanwhile visitors will be transported to their
respective resorts as they await their PCR results.
At BBIR, Wahab states that 98% of its 5,000 staff are fully
vaccinated, and the resort and its entire population of employees have
been certified under CHSE Indonesia and CovSafeSG. In the circumstance
that a positive Covid case is identified among its guests or staff, BBIR
has its own quarantine facilities and emergency protocols to contain
the virus.
Likewise, for Batam, chairman of Nongsa Sensation, Anddy Fong
highlighted the many similar safety precautions that will be undertaken
from the start of the visitor’s journey to the end, which include
securely transporting guests from one resort to the next across Nongsa’s
extensive grounds.
Currently, the BB-S travel bubble arrangement only allows travellers
from Singapore to enjoy quarantine-free travel into Batam or Bintan, but
they will be subjected to a seven-day stay-home notice (SHN) upon entry
back to Singapore.
The discussion panel notes that this serves as a deterrence in
attracting tourists to Batam and Bintan, and believes that the
comprehensive set of Covid-19 risk mitigation protocols outlined by the
respective hospitality providers in collaboration with the local
authorities, can serve to facilitate two-way quarantine-free travel in a
safe and calibrated manner.
Nia Niscaya, deputy of marketing, Ministry of Tourism and Creative
Economy of Indonesia, who headed the panel, revealed that within minutes
of Indonesia’s initial announcement of the BB-S travel bubble, there
was a surge in bookings. However due to the lack of clarity and the
inability to operate their ferries to-and-from Singapore without
approval from the Singapore government, the bookings were withdrawn and
“gone with the wind”.
“We’ll keep marketing this programme to make Batam and Bintan the
top-of-mind destinations for Singaporeans, but as a private sector, we
cannot stand alone,” Niscaya said in conclusion to the forum. “We need
G2G [government to government] processes, and we need industry clarity
and conformity on the regulations of the travel bubble scheme which is
not being reciprocated by Singapore.”