Malaysia Plans To Reopen For International Travel In Nov
One notable omission in the list of countries permitted for international travel remains our neighbour, Malaysia. Even though talks to reopen our borders have surfaced several times, it seems a greater possibility may be coming soon.
Speaking to CNBC, Malaysian Tourism Minister Nancy Shukri said that she’ll be meeting officials from Singapore in the next week to discuss resuming travel between the 2 countries.
She also added that Malaysia will be opening to Singapore “very soon” and expressed her optimism for an announcement to come in November.
Malaysia willing to reopen borders with Singapore
Currently, there are exceptions to cross-border travel in the form of a Periodic Commuting Arrangement. However, travellers would need to meet certain requirements to qualify for this scheme.
Contrary to that, it seems that the new discussions may involve more accessible travel.
While nothing is certain yet, Minister Nancy Shukri reiterated that Malaysia will be open to resuming travels with Singapore as long as we are too.
On a larger scale, she also shared Malaysia’s plan to reopen to other international tourists in November.
CNBC has reportedly reached out to the Singaporean Government for comments but has yet to receive a reply.
Singapore & Malaysia borders among busiest in the world
Before the pandemic, more than 300,000 people crossed the Malaysia-Singapore land border each day, reports CNBC.
The air route between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur was also one of the busiest globally.
Should leisure travels resume between both countries, we can perhaps look forward to a greater revival of the aviation and tourism sectors.
A hopeful chance of reunion for cross-border families
With this exciting news, we can start hoping for our borders with Malaysia to reopen soon.
Aside from the usual retail and holiday activities we miss doing, families can finally be reunited again after a considerable time apart.
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Featured image adapted from Lionel Lim on Flickr.
