Taiwan Restarts International Tourism with New Travel Bubble

After applying stringent entry and exit restrictions since the beginning of the pandemic, Taiwan has made the first step to restarting international tourism, implementing a travel bubble between the island nation of Palau.

The first stage of the travel bubble will see two flights per week to Palau from Taiwan from April 1st, with a limited number of tourists per week. Visitors will need to have booked a group tour for Palau with a limited number of hotels and restaurants open for receiving international tourists.

The travel bubble will however allow tourists from Taiwan to not need any quarantine in either Palau or on their return to Taiwan. No vaccination is required however a PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test must be conducted at Taoyuan International Airport before taking the flight.

The new travel bubble will most likely be monitored closely by both governments to consider forming new travel bubbles to other countries later.

Currently, traveling anywhere other than Palau will require following strict quarantine requirements for a minimum of 14 days in designated hotels on return to Taiwan. It's been around a year since Taiwan closed its borders to foreign arrivals for tourist purposes.

Only those traveling for business purposes to low-risk countries are allowed to apply for a shorter quarantine ending at seven days with a negative PCR test.