Malaysian Tourism Minister: Singapore-Malaysia Borders to Reopen to Travellers on November 29th

Malaysia’s Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Nancy Shukri has announced that Malaysia could be opening its borders for Singaporean travellers on November 29th

Discussions between both countries' officials have kicked off which sees Singapore finally opening its borders to Malaysia, albeit by air travel only.

The Prime Minister's Office has announced that vaccinated travellers would be allowed to travel from Singapore's Changi Airport to Kuala Lumpur International Airport by air without quarantine. 

Travel to other states by air, as well as using other modes of transport are still not allowed. However, both have cited that they look forward to restoring travel across the land links between both countries.

 in a Facebook post, Prime Minister Lee has said, "We are also discussing reopening travel across the Causeway and the Second Link. We look forward to launching a similar VTL scheme in the future".

Present Cross-Border Travel

Prior to the pandemic, the Causeway in Woodlands, as well as Second Link in Tuas, experienced high traffic volumes for daily work commutes or for visitation purposes. 

In March last year, before the borders closed, approximately 500,000 people made daily trips between the neighbouring countries.

Interstate travel was allowed from 11 October 2021 in a bid to transition the country to an endemic phase of living with the coronavirus. Its economy has been allowed to reopen as its vaccination rate has risen.

As of today, a Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) has been established between the two countries, allowing for fully vaccinated travellers to travel to both countries by air without the need for quarantine.

 Currently, 94.4% of adults in Malaysia and 72.2% of its total population have been vaccinated.

Malaysia No Longer Excluded From Quarantine-Free Travel

(Photo Credits: ICA)

As of writing this article, Singapore has established quarantine-free arrivals with 13 countries including the USA and UK. Now this list will include Malaysia. 

Foreign tourists are also allowed to go to Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines with quarantine restrictions. 

Although the aforementioned 5,828 cases on Saturday is a dip from the average of 7,000 cases, Malaysia is still deemed a high-risk country and thus has closed its borders since March last year.

Amongst those that have opened their borders, the Philipines, for instance, recorded  5,256 infections on Sunday (24 Oct), 572 lower than Malaysia. 

Prior to this, Singapore has tried to establish a green lane with Malaysia, however, the fourth wave of infections has postponed that prospect until now.

Will we be able to experience exciting road trips to Johor by the end of the year? Only time will tell.

Read More: Johor Leaders Looking To Resume Cross-Border Travel To Singapore Soon

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