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THE plan to open limited borders through a travel bubble between Singapore and Nongsa in Batam, and Singapore with Bintan Resort in Bintan, Riau Islands has been postponed again.
According to the Governor of the Riau Islands, Ansar Ahmad in Batam said that on May 7 it may not have been. That’s why we must continue to press (the number of transmission of COVID-19). We have met with the Consulate General of Singapore, which states that the Travel Bubble plan can be implemented in August 2021.
“Initially the Travel Bubble between Nongsa-Singapore and Bintan-Singapore was opened on April 21, 2021, to coincide with Kartini Day. However, it was later postponed until May 7, 2021, and was postponed until August 2021,” he stated.
He explained, in the plan to implement the Travel Bubble, the Singapore Government considered the transmission of COVID-19. Although specifically in the special areas in Nongsa and Bintan Resort the transmission rate can be controlled, but overall in Riau Islands it is increasing.
“We encourage this to talk ‘point to point’. This means that we are talking about Singapore-Nongsa and Singapore Bintan Resort. So we really protect the area. But Singapore will definitely consider the condition of COVID-19. So we take good care of this,” said the Governor.
We continue to encourage, he continued that the Travel Bubble with Singapore to be implemented, in order to revive the tourism sector that collapsed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As for our concern, if the borders for tourism travel are not opened soon, there will be layoffs at hotels and resorts.
“Because we are also guarding, do not let tourist areas still have employees, layoffs on a large scale. We will increase our burden in the future, talking about economic growth,” Ansar Ahmad concluded. [antaranews/photo special]
