Issue #150 - How Did We Get From Covid to Here in Asia Pacific?
Issue #150 - How Did We Get From Covid to Here in Asia Pacific?
Charting 10 key staging posts across the 150 editions of Asia Travel Re:Set
Welcome to Issue 150 of Asia Travel Re:Set.
“Asia Pacific’s prolonged pause in travel is resulting in business closures. Debts and defaults are rising. Livelihoods are being lost. New lifestyles shaped during the 2010s are being eroded. Pessimism prevails where previously buoyant expectations uplifted.
The entire infrastructure of travel is being reshaped. Airline fleets are grounded. Travel agents, hotel staff and destination guides are displaced or on hiatus. Domestic travellers are spending cautiously.
Inevitably, attentions are turning to vaccine distribution. The ‘magic bullet’. In these bewildering times, a travel recovery seems forlorn without one.”
On 7 September 2020, amid the dark days of Covid lockdowns, those words launched Issue #1 of Asia Travel Re:Set. Almost 4 years later, the newsletter has completed 150 editions - and the travel landscape looks very different.
So, let’s review 10 key staging posts along the way…
PS: The newsletter is taking a summer break, and will return with a refreshed format in early September.
- “IN THE NEWS”
- How Did We Get From Covid to Here in Asia Pacific?
Charting 10 key staging posts across the 150 editions of Asia Travel Re:Set
“IN THE NEWS”
Food cultures are integral to destination marketing. From Thailand to Japan, South Korea to Indonesia and China to Singapore, social media strategies create culinary competitive advantages. In the Philippines, a "strategic road map" for gastronomy tourism aims to "attract more tourists, more investments and more visitor receipts.” Meanwhile, existential issues, such as food security, protecting biodiversity, resource allocation and fair pricing for farmers, are gaining urgency. Seasonal patterns of food production and tourism will alter as climate impacts intensify. So what happens next?
Read my new article for the Asia Media Centre: Can Gastronomy Tourism be a Recipe for Economic Growth?
Cambodia is an intriguing touchstone of South East Asia’s ongoing tourism recovery. It ranked 7th - below Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines - in ASEAN for visitor arrivals in 2019 with 6.6 million. The region’s 1st nation to fully reopen after Covid, it wants to be a stand-alone destination, rather than a stop-over in regional itineraries. The gap between saying and achieving is complex.
Thanks to Sangeetha Amarthalingam for including my comments in this detailed analysis: Behind the Numbers: What’s Driving Cambodia’s Slow Tourism Growth?
How Did We Get From Covid to Here in Asia Pacific?
Charting 10 key staging posts across the 150 editions of Asia Travel Re:Set.
10) Issue #145 - China & Thailand Take Centre Stage in Asia Pacific Tourism (15 June 2024)
“Despite the persistent shadow of Covid border closures, Asia Pacific at the halfway point of 2024 looks, feels - and is - more optimistic about travel. This week, Thailand confirmed a target of 40 million arrivals in 2024. This would surpass the 39.9 million visitors in 2019. If successful, it will reach that goal by welcoming significantly fewer than the 11 million Chinese visitors in 2019. Meanwhile, Sabre released a report quantifying Chinese outbound growth in 2024. Yep, the statistics were big. 392% big.”
9) Issue #130 - Visa-free Travel is the Hottest Topic in Asia-Pacific Tourism! (24 February 2024)
“As South East Asian governments publish their Lunar New Year travel stats, visa-free travel is becoming a political piñata. It is viewed as a prize conduit to bolster Chinese visitor flows after 3 years of Covid isolation, and a slow recovery in 2023.”
8) Issue #126 - Chinese New Year Brings Bold Tourism Forecasts Across Asia Pacific! (28 January 2024)
“If there were ever any doubt that tourism in Asia Pacific is a competitive numbers game, the upcoming Chinese New Year holiday provides conclusive clarity. Governments, tourism boards and media across the region are engaged in frenzied speculation about an upsurge in Chinese traffic. Annual forecasts are bolder than in 2023, but (except in China itself) do not meet the desired goal of matching 2019.”
7) Issue #115 - Forget Barbenheimer, Asia Pacific's Travel Box Office Battle is Thaijapan (30 July 2023)
“Last weekend, movie marketers made the opening weekend of Barbie and Oppenheimer not only a choice about which to watch, but a challenge to save time for both. As we sail through Q3 of 2023, Asia’s travel box office battle is Thailand vs Japan. Thailand currently leads for inbound arrivals, and it’s unlikely a huge number of tourists will visit both destinations this year. But, you never know…”
6) Issue #105 - Free Travel Giveaways Highlight the Covid Overhang in Asia Pacific! (12 March 2023)
“Three years ago yesterday, the WHO declared Covid-19 a pandemic. The tourism sector is frantically promoting now the region is fully open. With everyone watching everyone else, tourism marketers are turning to freebies and giveaways to make headlines, drive a social buzz and entice tourists. There’s an awful lot of stuff purportedly being given away.”
5) Issue #100 - 2022: The Year That Tourism Returned to South East Asia (4 December 2022)
“Tourism is back, but (so far) on a much reduced scale than before. The cost of travel is up, currencies and consumer sentiment are volatile – BUT, thankfully, all the countries that reopened this year did not backtrack. That may sound surprising to readers beyond the region – but the numerous Covid-era political oscillations and prevarications raised doubts at the turn of 2022. Yes, 2023 will be challenging. It will be the most important year for Asia Pacific travel and tourism in modern memory. But progress over recent months has diluted, if not fully lifted, the gloom.”
4) Issue #89 - 10 Takeaways From The Phuket Sandbox: One Year On (3 July 2022)
“Tourism contributed 12% of Thailand’s economy in 2019, and employed 20% of its workforce. As its economy stagnated in 2020 and the first half of 2021, the government and its tourism authorities hatched a plan to bring back tourists. The Phuket Sandbox was the result, which launched one year ago this week. Thailand is now spearheading South East Asia’s tourism revival, with Phuket once again a popular destination. So, let’s check the island’s pulse with the Phuket Hotels Association.”
3) Issue #62 - What Can Reopening South East Asian Nations Learn From The Maldives? (7 November 2021)
“It’s 16 months since the Maldives reopened (on 15 July 2020) after COVID-19. In late October, the Maldives welcomed its 1 millionth visitor in 2021. By comparison, Thailand’s 4-month-long Phuket Sandbox attracted 59,689 inbound visitors. There have been a few tribulations - notably the closure to its vital South Asian market as the Delta variant scythed through India. But, the Maldives reopening has been measured, pragmatic and devoid of the political drama in South East Asia. While most ASEAN governments peer over their shoulders to see what their neighbours are doing, key lessons from the Maldives are going unlearnt.”
2) Issue #48 - 10 Reasons Why 2021 in South East Asia is Tougher than 2020 (18 July 2021)
“Each quarter this year seems worse than the previous one. Travel businesses - especially SMEs, which existed on narrow margins before the pandemic - are running only on fumes. Vaccine rollouts in nations where the most progress is being made - Singapore, Malaysia and Cambodia - are unlikely to have an appreciable impact until the back end of 2021. Significant portions of the travel supply chain simply won’t make it through until then. In countries with larger populations to vaccinate - Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia - the situation looks especially parlous.”
1) Issue #32 - Travel Bubbles Are Back! (14 March 2021)
“Travel Bubble fever broke out this week in Asia Pacific. Again. Taiwan’s Transport Minister has been having bubble chats with Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Vietnam since “late last year” - and recently added Palau to the roster. Malaysia intends to build a bubble between the island of Langkawi and Indonesia “by the second quarter of this year,” and - hopefully - with China. Every country in Asia, it must be said, is on record as being ‘hopeful’ about China.”
And, that’s a wrap for issue 150.
The Asia Travel Re:Set newsletter will be back with a new format in early September.
Until then, find me at LinkedIn, The South East Asia Travel Show and High-Yield Tourism.
Happy summer travels,
Gary