TL;DR – Long queues and waiting times frustrate the tourists.
In a letter to the Straits Times forum, Ms Kamala Dewi expresses her concern about the long queues and waiting times tourists have to bear while visiting Singapore.
She goes on to explain that while it is a great relief to see that Singapore is reopening to tourists via vaccinated travel lanes, however, she is also worried that long queues and waiting times might frustrate the tourists.
What probably prompted her to raise her concern was because she’d overheard a tourist saying: “I thought Singapore is a developed country, but it doesn’t look like that. This is not the way.”
Here is her full letter,
As a Singaporean, it is a great relief to see that the country is reopening to tourists via vaccinated travel lanes.
However, my recent experience was marred by long queues and waiting times, which appeared to frustrate the tourists who were with me.
The first occasion was at London’s Heathrow Airport, where I had to queue for three hours to check in for my Singapore Airlines flight.
I wonder if this wait could have been shortened – the queue started moving 10 times faster about 30 minutes before the flight was scheduled to depart.
While waiting in the queue, I overheard frustrated people expressing concern that they might miss their connecting flights in Singapore.
The second occasion was when I had to queue for almost two hours at a centre in Little India to get my antigen rapid test done on my third day in Singapore.
It was hot, and there were only two staff members there at the centre to handle hundreds of people. I overheard one tourist say: “I thought Singapore is a developed country, but it doesn’t look like that. This is not the way.”
The relevant agencies should look into how to make things more convenient and efficient for tourists visiting Singapore and enjoying our country.
