Trip.com Travel Singapore has inked an agreement with Raffles Medical Group (RMG) to provide pre-departure swab and serology services for its outbound travellers, allowing customers to schedule an appointment at the time of flight booking.
RMG will provide three types of services: PCR and IGM test; PCR; and PCR – Express.
Travellers may take their pre-departure tests at any of the 36 clinics in the Raffles Medical clinic network.
This service will come into effect from October 22.
This is the first agreement that RMG has signed with an online travel agency to provide pre-departure tests for outbound travellers.
Director of commercial for RMG, Morrison Loh, said: “The partnership builds on the deep expertise in curating travel experience and products at Trip.com and RMG’s extensive experience in healthcare and support for Singapore’s Covid-19 initiatives.
“RMG’s operations extends air-border screening and pre-event testing to include vaccination centres, on-site Covid testing services, pre-departure swabbing, traveller arrival testing, tests for those exposed to new Covid-19 clusters as they emerge, and the entire gamut of healthcare services in accordance with the prevailing pandemic advisory in Singapore,” Loh added.
Ru Yi, general manager of Trip.com Travel Singapore, noted that the company has seen a spike in enquiries and bookings since the launch of the first Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) in September.
“With the expansion of the VTL scheme, coupled with more countries finalising preparations to reopen their borders to fully vaccinated tourists, we anticipate a strong demand for flight bookings in the coming months,” said Yi.
“Through this collaboration (with RMG), Trip.com users will enjoy the seamless convenience of booking a bundled deal that includes flight tickets, accommodation and the required outbound pre-departure tests – with the click of a mouse, and within minutes. In addition, our customers will also benefit from having instant access to the travel and specific testing requirements for their destination,” she added.
Trip.com is looking to expand health and safety services for customers through RMG, and will continue to launch new campaigns and products that enable safe and convenient travels.
