Coronavirus quarantine: Singapore pips Hong Kong in quantity and range of usable hotels, getting the edge in resuming travels

Singapore pips Hong Kong in quarantine facilities for visitors and returnees, an advantage that gives the city state the edge in resuming business travels to kick start the local economy.

One in every four Singapore hotels is usable as a facility for so-called stay-home notices (SHN), compared with one in 10 in Hong Kong, according to tourism and government officials of both cities. In absolute terms, Singapore’s SHN facilities are more than double the number of Hong Kong’s quarantine venues, even if the Lion City has 17 per cent fewer hotels than Hong Kong.

“Singapore’s system is more efficient and more convenient, especially if they can guarantee a decent room and a decent hotel,” said Banque Transatlantique’s Hong Kong managing director Hervé Guinebert, who used to travel to Singapore once or twice a year. The Frenchman booked a quarantine room at Hong Kong’s Regal Airport Hotel for his return to the city from a holiday in France at the end of June.

The comparison offers a crucial peek into the practicality of each city’s readiness to resume travelling, as increasing vaccination and a slowing in the spread of the coronavirus outbreak triggered discussions to reopen borders. The two cities twice postponed their so-called travel bubbles for travelling to resume between Hong Kong and Singapore.

More than 70 hotels in Singapore, or 26.3 per cent of the 266 in the city state, have served as SHN facilities since March 2020, according to the Singapore Tourism Board’s director of SHN operations Geraldine Yeo. The number of SHN facilities depends on demand, with various hotels activated as and when needed.