Asia’s air bridges and travel bubbles will expand only slowly

MORE THAN a year after they shut their borders, Australia and New Zealand will soon have a go at quarantine-free travel. From April 19th residents of the two countries can fly across the Tasman Sea to do business, see family and friends—or just revel in the novelty of holidaying in another country.

The trans-Tasman bubble is not the first between countries that have brought cases of covid-19 infections close to zero. That prize goes to Taiwan and the closest country with which it has diplomatic relations, Palau. On April 1st 96 Taiwanese tourists and the jubilant president of Palau, Surangel Whipps, took off from Taipei for the tiny Micronesian state, where the tourism industry has been hammered. Yet it is hardly unfettered travel. Taiwanese holidaymakers must test negative for covid-19 at the airport. In Palau they may travel only in approved tour groups, stay in designated hotels and follow specific itineraries. Back in Taiwan they must eschew public transport, restaurants and crowded places for five days. They cannot even share rooms with family members at home. Still, it beats the only other reason to get on a plane: two-hour “flights to nowhere”.

The trans-Tasman bubble is a bigger deal. Before the pandemic, the 1.5m Australians who visited New Zealand each year accounted for 40% of all international visitors. For...