Australia, Cambodia, Bali and the Philippines, have all removed quarantine requirements for vaccinated tourists.
And there is further good travel news with Vietnam last week and Hong Kong this week both announcing they will also open without quarantine, opening the whole of Indochina – Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, and neighbouring Thailand.
However, the biggest barrier for travellers remains those countries that require testing on arrival, which discourages visitors from travelling. Until we see more countries removing this stipulation, tourism to the region cannot fully recover.
Other reopenings include Sri Lanka, Maldives, India and Oman, which have also removed all quarantine requirements for fully vaccinated visitors to test before or after arrival.
Elsewhere in Pacific Asia, Malaysia will be opening on 1 April, followed by New Zealand in May – and there are talks Japan will also reopen soon, giving even more reason to be positive.
With other destinations in the region hopefully following suit and also looking to relax their entry restrictions, this all brings some much-needed hope to so many of our friends and colleagues in the travel industry – and gives the British public the confidence to go ahead and book a long-awaited holiday.
Of course, this, coupled with the removal of all remaining Covid travel restrictions for travel to the UK – including the passenger locator form and tests for non-vaccinated arrivals – means international travel is becoming easier as we approach the Easter holidays and look ahead to the summer.
Speaking to some of our members, the consensus is that it finally feels like we are in the recovery phase of the pandemic and we can start planning again with slow travel being a key travel trend and the return of multi-centre itineraries.
Chris Crampton is chair of Pata UK and Ireland.
