SINGAPORE — Ms Germaine Lim, 35, flew into Jakarta from Singapore on Sunday (March 15) evening en route to a scuba diving holiday she had been looking forward to for months — but minutes later she was in a “mad dash” to get herself back to Singapore.

When Ms Lim landed at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport at 6.30pm, she read text messages from loved ones back home telling her that Singapore had just announced new restrictions covering arrivals from countries including Indonesia, she told TODAY on Monday.

Ms Lim quickly realised that unless she was back in Singapore by the end of Monday, she would be issued with a 14-day stay-home notice.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) announced on Sunday that people who enter Singapore with recent travel history to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) countries, Japan, Switzerland or the United Kingdom will be issued with a 14-day stay-home notice.

This takes effect from 11.59pm on Monday and applies to all travellers, including Singapore residents, long-term pass holders and short-term visitors. It will not apply to Singaporeans and Malaysians using sea and land crossings with Malaysia.

For Ms Lim, the change meant that instead of boarding her connecting flight to Ambon, in Indonesia’s east, she was rushing between the airport’s three terminals trying to get a flight home to Singapore.

She said she had quickly abandoned her diving holiday, as she did not want to put unnecessary stress on her parents and family members who were worried about her given the prospect she would have to self-isolate at home for two weeks.

“I haven’t been very paranoid about the whole situation. Before my trip everyone kept asking me if I was going to go or cancel and I was still very much set on going because at the start, Indonesia was not on the travel ban list,” said Ms Lim, who works in communications.

As she scrambled to find a flight on Sunday evening, she discovered that a one-way Jakarta-Singapore ticket that night cost between S$300 and S$800. Ms Lim said she was willing to pay those prices and even considered purchasing a business class ticket.

She eventually got a flight back to Singapore priced at S$150 onboard Jetstar Airways and landed back in Singapore at 3am on Monday.

“I was relieved that I actually got a flight back but now I’m hoping I made the right decision and not missing out on a dive holiday I have been looking forward to for months,” she said.

The announcement on Sunday was in addition to previous announcements that residents and long-term pass holders returning from mainland China (outside Hubei province), Iran, Italy, France, Germany, South Korea and Spain will continue to be issued with a 14-day stay-home notice upon return to Singapore.

Holiday goers who had trips planned to the affected countries told TODAY that they had to make quick decisions on whether they should proceed with their trips or postpone them. Many of those already on holiday, like Ms Lim, quickly made arrangements to get home before the 11.59pm deadline.

Travel agencies whom TODAY spoke to said they have received numerous requests from customers with upcoming trips abroad seeking to postpone or cancel their trips in light of the new restrictions.

SCRAMBLING TO MAKE ARRANGEMENTS

Another traveller caught in Indonesia when the announcement was made, Ms Valerie, who declined to give her family name, was holidaying in Bali with five friends.

The new travel restrictions placed them in a tricky situation. Her friends were in the clear as they would land back in Singapore at 10.10pm on Monday. But Ms Valerie, who was set to arrive at 1.25am on Tuesday, would not make it before the deadline.

To avoid being slapped with the stay-home notice, Ms Valerie spent Sunday night calling different airlines’ hotlines only to be put on hold. She then searched for flights online.

“It was quite confusing and upsetting because places like Skyscanner and Google were showing the timings of available flights but when we tried to book on the airlines’ official websites, there would be errors,” said Ms Valerie, 26.

The cost of paying S$500 to S$600 for a return flight home, however, made the media executive wonder if it was “worth it” to pay the extra cash or whether perhaps she should just stick to her original flight and be issued with the stay-home notice.

Eventually, she bit the bullet and bought a new ticket back home, which got her back to Singapore at 7pm on Monday.

FORCED TO CANCEL

Ms Tracy Low, 25, and her friend Ms Zahidah Zanudin, 23, were all set for a week-long trip to France and the United Kingdom when they were forced to make a decision.

Last Friday, just hours before making their way to the airport for their midnight flight to Paris, an advisory was issued in Singapore against travelling to France.

The social media executive chose to cancel her trip to France entirely and rerouted her flight to London instead.

But the situation quickly turned for the worse there too — in the UK, news reports stated that various tourist destinations were shutting down, including a Warner Bros Studio Tour for Harry Potter which Ms Low had booked in advance.

It soon became clear that Ms Low had no choice but to postpone her trip to Europe entirely. She made the decision to do so on Saturday, the day before the new travel restrictions were announced.

“I had to do what is logical and postpone it… If I went on the holiday, I would have had to worry about things like racism, catching the virus and not being able to visit the tourist sites and attractions because they are shutting down.”

Ms Low’s travel partner, Ms Zanudin, estimated that the pair would lose at least S$500 each.

The quality service executive added that the pair are still in the midst of getting refunds from the hotels and travel operators in Europe.

TRAVEL AGENCIES 'INUNDATED’ WITH QUERIES

Mr Rob Stables, who is the country manager at STA Travel, said the agency has been inundated with requests from customers, many of them students studying abroad, who have been urgently trying to book return flights to Singapore.

Most of the requests are coming from Europe and North America, said Mr Stables, who added that they have received some requests from individuals travelling from Australia and New Zealand.

A spokesperson for another travel agency, Chan Brothers, said in light of the latest announcements, all its group tours that had been set to depart from March 15 to April 30 have been suspended.

Ms Alicia Seah, who is the director of marketing and communications at Dynasty Travel, said it has seen the most inquiries from customers who were heading to Australia and New Zealand.

However, this is due to the travel restrictions imposed by the Australian and New Zealand governments, rather than the announcements made by the authorities here on Sunday, she said. Both countries are imposing similar self-isolation restrictions on all incoming travellers.