“Inter-regional travel can take place because many places in the West are already opening travel from the Asia-Pacific region for the vaccinated,” Menon said. “Resources are constrained and the supply of vaccines is also constrained. So intra-regional travel will be held back for a while longer, hopefully not too long beyond the end of 2021.”
Some countries in Asia are shifting away from Covid-Zero strategies and adopting a policy of living with the virus, backed by widespread vaccination, as they try to revive economies that have suffered from lengthy lockdowns. Singapore is taking steps to reopen and last week started allowing short-term, vaccinated visitors from Germany and Brunei.
“It is hard to say when the recovery will take place,” Menon said. “Pent-up demand is there. We just need the right settings.”
