Singapore set to begin business travel bubble

Singapore is now taking bookings for the Connect@Changi business travel bubble program.

It unveiled facilities at a site close to Singapore’s Changi Airport and expects the first visitors to arrive next month.

It opens with 150 guestrooms and 40 dedicated meeting rooms, and will increase to 660 rooms and 170 meeting rooms when the first phase is complete before the summer.

All overseas visitors are accommodated at the Expo site, where they stay and conduct meetings without leaving the facility.

They will stay within this business bubble for the entirety of their stay and undergo Covid testing on arrival and throughout their stay.

"We are in an unprecedented situation in uncharted waters. There is no standard playbook on how such physical meetings could resume safely. Until you try, you don’t know what you cannot do, and more importantly, you don’t know what you can do," said Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat.

For rates starting at S$384 a night, business travellers get three meals a day, Wi-Fi, two-way airport transfers and all Covid-19 tests during the stay.

The facility also has a gym and a duty-free shopping service.

Written by Ray Montgomery, Asia Editor