This is where business travelers can now meet in Singapore without quarantine

Seated from left, Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat and his East Coast GRC members Maliki Osman, Tan Kiat How, Jessica Tan and Cheryl Chan at the Changi facility. Photo: Zinkie Aw

By Coconuts Singapore

Feb 19, 2021 | 12:40pm Singapore time

Singapore has rejigged portions of the Singapore Expo convention center for the international business elite to meet without needing to quarantine.

Equipped with air-tight glass panels and UV boxes to sterilize documents, Connect@Changi opened yesterday just minutes from Changi Airport as part of efforts to get back to business safely. Several ministers including Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat were seen gracing the venue at Thursday’s opening.

“Through this dedicated facility at Singapore EXPO & MAX Atria, business travellers from around the world can meet safely in Singapore, while ‘bubbled’ from our community. I hope that this facility will help catalyse business activities in Singapore and the region,” he wrote online after visiting the site.

The facility has been set up in such a way that discourages physical contact in its nearly 200 rooms, 40 of which were for meetings while the rest were for guests to stay overnight for up to two weeks.

The glass panels divide each meeting room in two, with different ventilation systems for each section. Ultraviolet boxes are also provided to sanitize documents before passing them between the two sections. Meals will be served contact-free outside the meeting rooms.

There is also an indoor courtyard, a 24/7 gym, virtual spin classes, vending machines, and a Starbucks self-serve kiosk.

All international arrivals making their way to Connect@Changi have to take COVID-19 tests throughout their time in Singapore.

Rooms are priced at S$384 (US$289) each, including three meals a day, COVID-19 tests and airport transfers.