What is a Travel Bubble?

The pandemic of coronavirus has brought a drastic crisis, as the world is witnessing drops in the global shares market, the unemployment rate is rising and the price of oil is crashing down. As COVID-19 is a threat to the world, it’s no wrong to say that the world economy is doing.

With travelers canceling their vacations and business trips due to the border being closed and airlines being grounded, the travel industry is among the hardest hit by COVID-19 pandemic.

Tourism contributes a good percentage of any country’s GDP, and it is very damaging for a country to lose such a contribution to its GDP. Thus, governments around the world are struggling to find easy ways to somewhat restart the inbound cash flow from international tourism and travel, which comes up with the solution called ‘travel bubble.’

The Meaning

Travel bubbles are also known as travel corridors and corona corridors, it is a partnership between neighboring or nearby countries who have succeeded in containing and combating the coronavirus within their borders. These countries then move on to re-establish communication between them by opening borders and allowing travelers to travel freely within the green zone without undergoing on-arrival quarantine.

The term “Bubble Travel” is introduced by the three states  Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, when they formed a triangle partnership granting travelers of these three countries to move within these three territories. This free passage is eventually known as a travel bubble.

Not only limited to tourism, but the travel bubble also allows all three Baltic countries to re-establish trade relations and resume other sectors as well. The risk of people transmitting the virus within the travel bubble is extremely low due to the level of success the countries involved have controlled the viral outbreak.

On the other side, travelers who are looking to enter the travel bubble from the outside must undergo strict preventive measures. Measures include 14-day quarantine, and an official document declaring they have not been infected with COVID-19 and have not come into contact with anyone who has coronavirus.

India’s Travel bubble: what we know

As per the minister: 

• Air France will operate 28 flights between 18 July and 1 August from Bengaluru, Delhi ad Mumbai to Paris. 
• Air India will continue to fly to the US but will be joined by United Airlines which will fly a dozen flights to San Francisco and Newark.
• Discussion is on with Lufthansa to set up an air bubble with Germany. 
• The movement of travelers will not be unrestricted. You may have to show a good reason to travel, the same as the rules of the Vande Bharat Mission.
• cost of the flight will be capped
• No access everyone. It is likely to be bounded to citizens of the destination country, or for those who have special residency status. initially, only Overseas Citizens of India or Indian nationals may be allowed on a flight from Paris to Delhi.
• The schedules and rules are dynamic, they are likely to change over the next few weeks.

Also Read: Uttarakhand Resume Tourism