Earlier in 2021, it was announced that the governments of both India and Maldives entered into a bilateral arrangement to establish an air travel bubble, which was the first such arrangement in the South Asian region.
Air bubbles or otherwise known as ‘transport bubbles’ or ‘air travel arrangements’ are temporary aviation arrangements between two countries aimed at restarting commercial passenger services when regular international flights are suspended. Air bubbles are reciprocal in nature which means airlines from both the countries entering the arrangement will enjoy equivalent or similar benefits.
Under the air bubble arrangement between the two countries, Maldivian nationals, residents, and foreign nationals holding valid Maldivian visas as well as Indian nationals can travel from India to the Maldives, at the discretion of the airlines’ concerns.
Similarly, Indian nationals, all overseas citizens of India (OCI) cardholders and Person of Indian Origin (PIO) cardholders holding passports of any country, foreigners including diplomats holding valid Indian visas as per extant guidelines can travel from the Maldives to India.
Meanwhile, the concept of the travel bubble is relatively new in the aviation industry, many are likely to question the origin of the concept.
The travel bubble is also called ‘travel bridges’ or ‘corona corridors’ apart from the names mentioned earlier. The relative aim is, as mentioned earlier, to restart commercial passenger services between the countries that enter the travel bubble arrangements. This is done by dropping the waiting period for a “select group of travelers” from certain countries where the Covid-19 cases have been contained.
“In a ‘travel bubble’ a set of countries agree to open their borders to each other, but keep borders to all other countries closed. So people can move freely within the bubble, but cannot enter from the outside,” one Oxford University researcher writes.
The countries entering the arrangements are investing their time and effort with a bit of risk and trust; in that, each of the partner countries trusts the other in their ability to contain the virus through excessive testing, contact tracing, and effective quarantining. This is why it had been suggested that the best or optimal time to create a travel bubble is when two countries entering the arrangement have no more cases which ensure low risk in allowing travelers from the other country.
The researcher also states that “a travel bubble can also make sense if neighboring countries have a similar number of cases and respond in the same way to the pandemic.”
For starters, travel bubbles aim to concentrate on rebuilding or rejuvenating the flagging tourism industries of the partner countries. Take the case of Australia and New Zealand for instance, the former makes up almost 40 percent of international arrivals to New Zealand with tourism being the country’s biggest export industry.
Similarly, when it comes to the relationship between Maldives and India, the latter happens to be among the strongest source markets to the tourism industry of the former. In 2021, India had reached the second spot in the top ten source markets to the Maldives. It was reported that arrivals from India to the Maldives in 2021 on annual terms exceeded 200,000 by end of December 2021.
Meanwhile, India is one of the prime destinations for Maldivians to travel for a variety of benefits; with medical tourism being the top most niche.
So, if done right, then travel bubbles aim to provide economic benefits to the partner countries in accordance with the relationship they share.
Sign In
