Surangel Whipps, Jr, president of the Republic of Palau in the western Pacific Ocean, returns home Thursday with a group of 110 Taiwanese tourists in what will be the first in a series of weekly vacation flights between his country and Taiwan.
Whipps landed on Taiwan Sunday to launch Asia's first travel bubble called the "Palau-Taiwan Travel Corridor." The travel bubble will allow Taiwanese and Palauans to travel between both countries without a COVID-19 quarantine. It will start April 1.
Both Palau and Taiwan are relatively free from the worst effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Taiwan has had slightly more than 1,000 coronavirus cases and 10 deaths since the disease hit its shores in January 2020.
On the other hand, Palau is one of the few places on Earth never to have recorded a single COVID-19 case. Tourism accounts for over half of Palau's gross domestic product (GDP).
Palau is also one of only 15 countries worldwide that still have formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. The travel bubble is only possible because of this enduring relationship with Taiwan.
The travel corridor between both countries will be a huge boost to Palau's tourist sector that was hard hit by the pandemic in 2020.
"The main reason we are going is really to open up the travel corridor because tourism is our biggest economic driver and it's important to get the tourism back in operation," said Whipps to Taiwanese media.
"I think it's important to demonstrate to the world that this can work."
Whipps said Palau will enforce strict measures to protect its 18,000 residents. He said Taiwanese tourists, who must undergo pre-flight COVID-19 checks, can only travel in tour groups and are barred from making individual excursions.
Whipps said Taiwanese contacts with Palau residents will be kept to a minimum. Also, Taiwanese tourists can only stay at designated hotels, eat in separate restaurant areas and shop only at designated times of the day.
On the other hand, he admitted no system is foolproof but said Taiwanese health authorities had calculated the chance of COVID-19 reaching Palau via the travel bubble was one in four million.
Whipps also said he had brushed aside China's overtures to sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan after he won the presidential election in 2020.
"I told them, you know, I believe that we should be free to choose who our friends are," he said.
"We value the relationship that we have with Taiwan and nobody should tell us that relationship should be severed."
Apart from Palau, three other Asia-Pacific countries still have diplomatic ties with Taiwan: the Marshall Islands, Nauru and Tuvalu.
Whipps said the U.S.-provided COVID-19 vaccines now being used to inoculate Palauans.
"We've gotten a shot in our arm with the vaccine; by allowing the tourists to come in you give us a shot in the arm for our economy," according to Whipps.
"And that's very important because as you know many of our people are out of work because we're very much dependent on tourism."
