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Will the road to the Southeast Asian countries that have been prevented from coronavirus be opened? This year, the government decided to promote the introduction of Travel Bubbles (non-isolated travel areas), which are exempt from self-isolation, and Travel Passes that contain corona testing and vaccination information. The non-landing tourism model, where in-flight services and duty-free shops are available, is also expected to expand to regional airports. On the 3rd, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced a plan to support the aviation industry for the second year of Corona. The biggest difference between the countermeasures focusing on funding and employment retention in the first year of Corona last year and the New Year’s countermeasures is the support measures related to air tourism. First of all, a travel bubble (non-isolated travel area) that is exempt from self-isolation in the country of entry will be promoted. In the second half of last year, consultations on Travel Bubbles with Southeast Asian countries, such as Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Vietnam, and Singapore, where stable corona protection is already occurring, has started, and plans to make actual travel possible within this year. Last year, Australia and New Zealand signed a Travel Bubble Agreement, and some travel between the two countries is taking place, and the three countries of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia are also able to travel with travel bubbles. Last year,’non-landing tourist flights’, which use only in-flight services such as in-flight meals, have gained popularity, and plans to allow non-landing tourist flights, which are currently limited to departures from Incheon Airport, to be operated at local airports are also being considered. It also announced that it is considering introducing’inbound international tourism flight’, a method of taking off from a foreign airport and returning after shopping at a duty-free shop at a domestic airport, or returning after entering the country and only sightseeing in the vicinity of the airport. In the future, it is predicted that a negative corona test confirmation letter and confirmation of vaccination before entering the country will be obligated, and the introduction of the’Travel Pass’, which can pass national quarantine measures, has also been promoted. When the Travel Pass is introduced, the corona test is performed by a designated institution and the negative result is saved as data, so there is no need to go through a separate test procedure when entering overseas. An official from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said, “According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA) plan, the vaccination results will be put into the Travel Pass and the Travel Pass will function similar to a kind of vaccine passport. As for all tourism-related measures such as bubbles, quarantine must be prioritized, so we will thoroughly prepare and implement it with the quarantine authorities.” Meanwhile, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport supported emergency operating funds of over 3.5 trillion won last year and paid employment maintenance subsidies, and this year also decided to provide additional 200 billion won for low-cost airlines (LCC) until the second half of the year. Support for Korean Air and Asiana Airlines, which are large airlines (FSCs), will be provided during the integration process, but in this process, we plan to ensure that there is no contrary to user convenience such as fare hikes and duplicate flight schedules. By Jin Myung-sun, staff reporter [email protected]