Asia has traditionally provided the climate and value sought by long-haul travellers, but huge swathes of it have been off limits for longer than any other region following the pandemic. That is finally changing – with some key countries now reopening – although some challenges, like limited flight capacity, remain.
“Asia is a year behind the Caribbean, Maldives and Dubai,” Sam Collins, the Pacific Asia Travel Association’s (Pata) Far East specialist told TTG, adding the focus in early 2022 had been on Thailand following its limited reopening, although this had brought confusion. “Every region had different rules, but it allowed Thailand to assess whether its citizens were at risk. It led the way.”
Thailand downgraded Covid to a disease “under surveillance” on 1 October, dropping all restrictions, but airlines have not caught up. “Thailand currently has 30% of the international air capacity of 2019,” said Collins.
The impact, he said, was expensive fares. “The £799 low-end Phuket deals no longer exist. Hotels have not upped rates since 2019; people are upgrading from four- to five-star for marginal extra cost, but airfares are up 30-40%. Asia is losing the low end of the market.”
However, Collins added sterling’s fall against the dollar made Asia more competitive against the Maldives and Caribbean. “A huge new generation is turning to Asia largely because of pricing,” he said.
Destinations such as Indonesia and Malaysia, which still have restrictions, were lagging, he said, but others were just affected by lack of flights. “Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam have been very good in terms of how they reopened, but [to get there] most have to travel via Thailand because of the air capacity. He added Vietnam was missing “a huge percentage” of tourists from China and Russia.
NO-GO ZONE
Another glaring omission from operators’ programmes is Hong Kong, although it now permits transfer passengers and dropped its requirement for hotel quarantine on 26 September. However, pre-departure and arrival testing remain, and entry to bars and restaurants is forbidden for three days while more tests are taken.
“It’s not open; people won’t go through the rigmarole of testing,” said Collins. He predicted it would be 2024 before Hong Kong bounced back and said Cathay Pacific’s capacity restrictions were a brake on the whole region.
Adding to this is Virgin Atlantic’s decision not to return to Hong Kong as planned next March despite nearly operating there for 30 years.
NEW NUMBER ONE
Mainland China is also off limits, and at Wendy Wu Tours it has been overtaken by Japan as best-seller. Andy Eastham, Wendy Wu’s global head of communications, said: “South-east Asia is doing incredibly well and Japan is doing absolute wonders. There’s huge demand, and we have a backlog of two years. We hope China comes back in 2023.”
He also mentioned the flights situation. “Air capacity has its challenges; we’ve had groups cancelled at the last minute, but we’ve been very successful in rerouting them.”
TransIndus managing director Amrit Singh told TTG that India reopened well ahead of other Asian nations in late 2021 and is recovering well. “We will close the year in March with India as our best destination, but we’re still at only 50% of pre-Covid capacity. By this time next year, I suspect we’ll be back to 100%,” she said.
Singh added India’s recent visa issues “had come out in the wash”, but visa agency bulk applications were being discouraged because embassies were overwhelmed.
ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS
Singh also highlighted Bhutan, which reopened in late September amid negative coverage due to a switch in tourism policy. Bhutan increased its tourist entry fee from $60 a day to $200, but Singh said the removal of the minimum $250 a day spend meant visitors could choose cheaper accommodation, while the reopening of the Bhutan Trail to hikers after 60 years provided a new incentive to visit.
She also has high hopes for South Korea, often twinned with Japan. “Korea reopened a month ago, but they are only trying to promote themselves now because of Japan reopening. When Japan flourishes, so does Korea,” said Singh.
Pata, too, is also confident, with Collins reporting 2023 bookings “strong” as clients tried to lock in air fares. However, he added that for the rest of 2022 “flights are full”, with the Middle East carriers particularly affected by this month’s Fifa World Cup.
Once this is over and airlines start playing ball, Asia will really come back – and seemingly with a lot of bargain hotels to enjoy.
