While still a difficult time, the rolling out of – now three – vaccination programmes sees a positive shift in the course of the pandemic.

With this hopeful outlook as a foundation for 2021, we are confident about the future – but we know many of our stakeholders in Asia Pacific have a tough journey ahead still.

A handful of countries in the region are in the early stages of reopening their borders for tourism, which is encouraging, including Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Dubai and the Maldives, albeit with varying levels of entry restrictions.

Other countries, including Australia, New Zealand, China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan, are experimenting with country-to-country travel bubbles to jump-start aviation, tourism and business travel.

Frustrating as it might be, there isn’t going to be a sudden relaxing of restrictions. It will be a phased approach, and so every step back towards allowing travel is welcome in itself, even if it doesn’t provide a silver bullet to a resumption of tourism.

Pata UK and Ireland (the Pacific Asia Travel Association) continues to support its members and agents, and provide them up-to-date factual information. Our calendar of events has continued virtually, and we’ve added new training and networking events to maintain opportunities for development.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Asia Pacific introduced some of the strictest border restrictions and closures globally. It’s an open question as to what degree these measures reduced their exposure or whether other factors were at play, but it’s certainly true the region hasn’t suffered as much as Europe or the Americas.

Irrespective, travel and tourism industry has suffered greatly with devastating effects for businesses and local communities. Tourism is an essential part of the regional economy, and in many destinations, it is the largest and most important industry.

Sadly, many countries have been less than well served by their governments, while the importance of our sector to the global economy has been understated. It is a troubling feature for our industry globally that its importance has not been recognised sufficiently by governments around the world, nor the sheer scale of the employment it supports in some of the world’s poorest countries.

From a socio-economic perspective, the Asia Pacific region has taken a huge hit. But we know the fundamental reasons for tourism haven’t changed, and while the last year has been a devastating blow, the resilience of the industry means we forever have hope we will come back fighting.

There is considerable pent-up demand for holidays – sunshine, beaches, wellness breaks, exciting adventures, the great outdoors, nature, and quality time with friends and family.

There will unquestionably be reticence about travel for many, but to a fair extent, this doesn’t matter; it isn’t a question of whether travel and tourism will be better than five years ago, it’s that it will be awful lot better than 2020.

Our tour operator members were reporting an increase in enquiries before the latest Covid restrictions came into effect on 6 January; airlines had begun the process of reinstating routes, operators are promoting long lead travel, and hotels and attractions are Covid secure and ready to welcome guests.

As the vaccination programme rolls out across the UK, and the virus is brought under control again, I believe we will see consumer confidence rise – sooner than some may think.

It isn’t necessarily a matter of confidence returning when we are through this; confidence will begin to return when it is clear we are getting through this, and that will come earlier.

With certainty will come conviction to travel. And there are some really exciting developments in the region to look forward too, from new hotels and attractions to global events, a return to cultural festivals, and a greater focus on sustainability.

Chris Crampton chairs the Pacific Asia Travel Association (Pata) in the UK and Ireland.