Issue #52 - Asia Pacific Looks to Australia & New Zealand For Reopening Inspiration
Issue #52 - Asia Pacific Looks to Australia & New Zealand For Reopening Inspiration
"Australia identifies 5 priority Asia Pacific travel markets for 2022."
Hello. Welcome to the 52nd edition of Asia Travel Re:Set…
OK, OK. Last week, I said Asia Travel Re:Set would be “on a break” until 29 August. Without stretching the Friends metaphor too far, I just couldn’t resist…
So, this week is a Down Under mini edition.
Next Sunday: definitely on a break.
Back with issue 6 of the monthly Asia Pacific Travel & Tourism Report in 2 weeks’ time. Dr Jaeyeon Choe will return for that edition!
Thanks for being on board,
Gary
The (Brief) Sunday Itinerary
- This Week’s Top 6
Singapore, Brunei, Tokyo, North East Asia, South Korea, Paris
- Unlocking Two Tourism Fortresses
Australia Mini Update
New Zealand Mini Update
This Week’s Top 6
Consternation in Singapore as Changi International Airport loses its Skytrax World’s Best Airport crown to Doha.
Consternation in Brunei as it ends a 457-day streak with no local COVD-19 transmissions
Consternation in Tokyo as International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach was photographed sightseeing. All athletes were prohibited from doing so.
Consternation in North East Asia, as the region lost 25% of scheduled air capacity week on week, largely due to China’s Delta variant battle.
Cheers in South Korea where the K-Pop wave of tourism advocacy continues. Last week, it was BTS. This week: Brave Girls.
Cheers in Paris. After a stunning 2024 Olympics intro during the Tokyo 2020 closing ceremony, the world’s most famous visitor gave Paris tourism a boost. [Watch Ligue 1 match ticket demand from Asian fans skyrocket this season.]
The Philippines is South East Asia’s second largest nation with a population of more than 110 million. While it has struggled to contain COVID-19 from the outset, travel sentiment remains buoyant. In Part 5 of The South East Asia Travel Show’s 2021: The Year So Far in ASEAN series, we chat with Manila-based Feliz Axalan, General Manager at Tradewings Tours & Travel. Feliz joins us from Switzerland, having spent 3 months in Spain, Greece and Switzerland. She contrasts the travel summer in Europe with the current situations in the Philippines and elsewhere in South East Asia.
Click BELOW to listen to the previous 4 episodes in the series so far:
ASEAN Overview | Vietnam | Singapore | Laos
Unlocking Two Tourism Fortresses
Australia & New Zealand are readying for a return of tourism in 2022. What happens next?
Australia: Fully Vaccinated: 5.12 million / Single Dose: 9.61 million
[Eligible Population: 20.62 million]
New Zealand: Fully Vaccinated: 883,000 / First Dose: 1.51 million
[Eligible Population: 4.1 million (approx)]
Sources: Australia Department of Health & New Zealand Ministry of Health (14 Aug)
Globally and regionally, the media tends to pitch Fortress Australia vs Fortress New Zealand - and judge their COVID-era policies and pronouncements in this context.
While both have - in New Zealand’s case, explicitly and repeatedly - stated a ‘Zero COVID’ target, signs are emerging that 2022 *should* bring strategy shifts.
In short, both countries badly need to reenergise their visitor economies.
The overriding difference - apart from size of population to vaccinate - is the political arena. New Zealand’s Prime Minister Ardern earned a new mandate to govern in 2021. Australia’s Prime Minister Morrison must face the electorate in 2022.
Either way, inbound and outbound activity is slated to commence for vaccinated travellers in both countries in early 2022.
This should deliver an immediate dividend.
Australia and New Zealand will rank in the top tier of desirable regional destinations - along with Maldives and Singapore - for Asian travellers in 2022.
Other priority destinations will likely be Japan, South Korea and Vietnam - depending on vaccine rollouts.
Ones to watch include Cambodia, Laos and, depending on its entry policy, Taiwan.
With much of Asia Pacific proving aimless about how to prudently reopen, many countries will watch Australia and New Zealand carefully.
So here is a mini recap of this week’s developments…
Australia Mini Update
Back in May*, I wrote:
“Forget Phuket, Bali and Singapore-Hong Kong, the region’s most vociferous border reopening debate is developing in Australia.”
I got some pretty “robust” feedback on that one!
However, I stand by it. Australia’s next moves were always a matter of political timing related to the vaccine rollout - and enveloping economic necessity.
Domestically, things are toxic with spats between state leaders, frequent lockdowns and state border closures. A 28-day quarantine for homecoming Tokyo Olympians was widely chastised.
An under-pressure government is copping plenty for its handling of the COVID crisis, the vaccine programme and, well, pretty much everything else.
It has been a pretty grim winter.
But let’s focus on next year...
On Friday, Dan Tehan, Minister for Trade, Tourism & Investment, was interviewed on a Tourism Australia webinar. Here are 5 takeaways:
This week saw record daily vaccinations. “If we continue to see those rates, I’m confident we can get to 80% of the population by Christmas.”
Priority markets for inbound, and possibly outbound, travel in 2022 will be: New Zealand, Pacific Islands, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, US and the UK.
“Travel Bubbles, at this stage, are the way to progress as we come out of the crisis. Perhaps for the first six months. The New Zealand bubble was working successfully, albeit for a short time. The Pacific Islands and Singapore are very keen to create a bubble. Japan and South Korea are very keen as well.”
“We will also look at specific target markets, where we can bring back international students and workers to address our labour shortages.”
Visa policy is a priority: “As part of the 2030 Vision, we will look at what we can do to make our visas simpler to apply for and administer, and how this can give us an edge over other countries for people to study in, work in or visit Australia.”
New Zealand Mini Update
Back in May*, I wrote:
“Having secured a second term as Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern may prove a more pragmatic operator than the staunch ‘COVID Elimination’ advocate of the past 15 months.”
I got some pretty “robust” feedback on that one!
However, I stand by it. New Zealand’s next moves were always a matter of political timing related to the vaccine rollout - and enveloping economic necessity.
This week, PM Ardern announced that New Zealand’s borders will stay shut through 2021, and the Trans-Tasman Travel Bubble is unlikely to restart for a while.
No surprise there - but, 2022 should bring a phased reopening of international travel. Here are 5 takeaways:
Vaccinations will be open for all New Zealand residents from 1 September.
A pilot ‘home isolation’ scheme is scheduled from October-December this year.
“The key is maintaining our elimination strategy. The advice is clear, if we open our borders now we will lose the freedoms and advantages we’ve achieved so far.”
A 4-step plan will be in place to restore international travel. “Our ultimate goal is to get to quarantine-free travel for all vaccinated travellers ... but we're simply not in a position for a full reopen just yet.”
When borders reopen: “Countries will be grouped according to risk. Factors considered will be the number of cases, prevalence of variants of concern, vaccination rates and our confidence in the country's strategies for managing outbreaks.”
And, that’s a wrap for this mini Issue 52.
Back on 29 August with issue 6 of the Asia Pacific Travel & Tourism Report.
Until then, you can find me on Twitter, LinkedIn, and the Asia Travel Re:Set website.
Have a great couple of weeks,
Gary