Issue #62 - What Can Reopening South East Asian Nations Learn From The Maldives?
Issue #62 - What Can Reopening South East Asian Nations Learn From The Maldives?
Making entry for travellers simple, rational and universal is a good first step.
Hello. Welcome to issue 62 of Asia Travel Re:Set…
It's been a dismal year so far for travel and tourism in South East Asia.
Now, as vaccine rollouts accelerate and events, and reopening speculation, gather pace, attentions are turning to the upcoming December-February season.
What, realistically, are the expectations?
To try and answer this question, we launched a new weekly news and current affairs show called The SEA Travel News Show to keep listeners up to speed with events.
The first edition, called Two Months to Rescue Travel & Tourism in South East Asia, aired on Thursday. It features the latest from Thailand, Bali, Singapore & Australia. Plus, a discussion of the 4 big questions for regional travel in the remainder of 2021, and a report on ASEAN tourism activity at the 2021 World Travel Market in London.
Edition 2 will be out on Friday (12 November).
Thanks for being on board,
Gary
The Sunday Itinerary
- This Week’s Top 5
Updates from Australia, New Zealand-Cook Islands, Cambodia, Japan, Vietnam
- What Can Reopening South East Asian Nations Learn From The Maldives?
Making entry for travellers simple, rational and universal is a good first step.
This Week’s Top 5
Updates from Australia, New Zealand-Cook Islands, Cambodia, Japan, Vietnam
Last State Standing in Australia. Western Australia has finally announced it will start opening its borders once it hits a 90% vaccination threshold - likely in late January/early February next year.
Bubble News in New Zealand. After an enforced hiatus since August, the New Zealand-Cook Islands 2-way travel bubble (remember those?) is set to resume on 14 January 2022.
Filling the China Gap in Cambodia? Russia will be “arranging for tourists to visit Cambodia soon,” reports local media. “Preah Sihanouk, Koh Rong and Dara Sakor will reopen on 31 November”, and “Siem Reap during January 2022.”
‘Will it, Won’t it?’ in Japan. After easing quarantine restrictions for business travellers from 8 November, will Japan restore its Go To Travel scheme for domestic travellers?
Vietjet University? Oxford University’s Linacre College is applying to change its name to Thao College after receiving a GBP155 million donation from SOVICO - chaired by Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, founder of Vietnam’s Vietjet.
“IN THE NEWS”
This week’s top travel story in Asia Pacific - and likely to remain so for a while - was Thailand’s ‘Test & Go’ reopening, which garnered copious global coverage.
I was interviewed by The Guardian for Thailand reopens to vaccinated tourists after 18 months of Covid curbs. And by The Straits Times for Racing to reopen borders: Tourism reboot in ASEAN as peak season approaches.
What Can Reopening South East Asian Nations Learn From The Maldives?
Making entry for travellers simple, rational and universal is a good first step.
Photo: Gary Bowerman
It’s 16 months since the Maldives reopened (on 15 July 2020) after the COVID-19 lockdown.
Progress has been impressive.
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 earlier this year as the Delta variant scythed through India, in particular.
But, mostly, the Maldives reopening has been measured, pragmatic and devoid of the political drama we have seen in some South East Asian nations.
Many countries in South East Asia have looked at how the Maldives gradually rebuilt its tourism sector.
But how closely?
While most ASEAN governments peer over their shoulders to see what their neighbours are (and aren’t) doing, key lessons from the Maldives are going unlearnt.
So here are a few snapshot learnings - recognising, of course, that the Maldives’ unique geography and vacation offerings are perhaps more easily packaged and promoted than in some South East Asian countries.
I’ve also interspersed a few quotes from this week’s interview with Ruth Franklin, Co-Founder of Secret Paradise Maldives (see below).
1) Open to Everyone: Keep it Simple, Make it Easy
In advance of reopening, South East Asian nations like Thailand and Indonesia are publishing lists of eligible countries from which vaccinated visitors can arrive.
Some of these lists relate to the WHO COVID-19 cases matrix, but key trade partners and pre-pandemic source markets are sometimes included.
Differentiated access for visitors is also causing confusion.
Thailand, for example, offers the 1-day Test & Go entry policy for visitors from 63 eligible countries, while visitors from non-eligible countries must apply for the 7-day Sandbox quarantine scheme. The spectre also looms of being hospitalised for 10 days if someone next to you on the flight tests positive.
The Maldives has made access more transparent.
“The Maldives is open to all international travel. There are no restrictions on entry. A negative PCR test is required 96 hours prior to departure to the Maldives, and completion of the online health declaration form,” says Ruth Franklin.
She adds:
“There are some key restrictions when travelling within the Maldives. For tourists staying on local islands, a PCR test is mandatory within 72 hours before departing the Maldives at the end of the stay. Some resorts may also request a PCR test for guests doing a split stay (between a local island and a resort).”
2) Set Achievable Targets
Setting annual visitor arrivals targets became an established practice pre-pandemic. This is more confused now that some destinations are talking up attracting “quality tourists.” Whether this means actually overlooking mass tourism is debatable.
Solid arrivals growth from 15 July 2020 until the end of last year - bringing 555,000 visitors in the calendar year - encouraged the Maldivian authorities to set 2 scenario projections for 2021.
The 2021 baseline goal was 1 million arrivals, with a more optimistic ‘stretch’ target of 1.5 million arrivals.
Up to the end of October 2021, the Maldives had greeted 1,012,928. This represents a 27% shortfall on the same period in 2019, but up 139% on 2020.
These solid year-to-date figures are stoking optimism for the final 2 months of 2021:
“With October arrivals in excess of 142,000 together with the fact we are moving into the festive period with many properties reporting no, or very low, availability, I think there is a strong possibility of meeting the Ministry of Tourism’s stretch target of 1.5 million arrivals in 2021,” says Ruth Franklin.
On this week’s The South East Asia Travel Show, I discuss the tourism outlook in the Maldives with Ruth Franklin, Co-Founder of Secret Paradise Maldives. Ruth details the key learnings since the islands reopened in July 2020, and the challenges up ahead. She discusses the current key inbound markets, shifts in airline services and the value of a strong repeat visitor market.
CLICK HERE (website), HERE (Apple Podcasts) or HERE (Spotify) to listen to the full interview.
Source (both charts): Ministry of Tourism, Republic of Maldives
3) Bridge the ‘China Gap’
“Arrivals in 2021 have been led by India and Russia, and restrictions in place throughout the year for travellers from the UK and Italy were lifted at the end of 2021. Both of those are key markets for the Maldives, being ranked in the top 5 in 2020, and arrivals will have a strong impact on the festive season numbers,” says Ruth Franklin.
A vital task across South East Asia will be finding ways to bridge the China-shaped hole in arrivals. For many countries, China was the #1 inbound market in 2019.
It’s unlikely that a single market can make up for the lost visitors from China, so destinations will need to leverage alternative sources to at least partially plug the gap.
The chart below shows that China accounted for around 17% of arrivals to the Maldives in 2019. It also started 2020 strongly before COVID-19 curtailed travel, and actually ranked 6th for visitors in 2020.
This year’s top 2 markets, India and Russia, together account for 41.3% of all visitors. Thereafter, the next biggest market is Germany, 6.9%.
With 33 airlines now flying into and out of the Maldives, the islands have been able to attract travellers from a more diverse spread of markets.
In 2021 so far, the Maldives’ top 10 visitor markets include 3 countries - Kazakhstan (previously 46th), Ukraine (23rd) and Saudi Arabia (15th) - that used to rank well down the arrivals order.
4) Leverage the Marketing Mix
Slashed tourism board marketing budgets will likely hamper the ability of South East Asian destinations to promote themselves internationally once the borders reopen.
For example, only 4 countries - Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand - exhibited at this week’s World Travel Market (WTM) in London. The Maldives was represented by 58 travel industry companies at WTM. The Minister for Tourism also held a press conference, and a dedicated MICE roadshow was presented.
Two South East Asian markets, Thailand and Singapore, have been identified for travel trade engagement to try and build visitor arrivals over the coming months.
Media fam trips have been hosted for travel writers and editors from Europe and the US. The Maldives is also partnering with an Australian travel media company.
Plus, Maldives Border Miles, the country’s own travel rewards scheme, was launched this year, and marketing is ramping up for a new homestay tourism programme, which will commence in early 2022.
And talking of 2022. The Maldives intends to generate interest throughout the year for events marking the 50th Golden Jubilee of tourism to the country.
Join me, Hannah Pearson, John Grant and Becca Rowland on this week’s South East Asia special edition of the monthly OAG Webinar. We’ll discuss the latest air travel and arrivals data in South East Asia, and assess the outlook in key ASEAN markets for the rest of 2021 - and into 2022.
Wednesday 10 November (3pm SIN)
Register for free HERE
And, that’s a wrap for Issue 62.
Until next Sunday, find me on Twitter, LinkedIn and the Asia Travel Re:Set website.
Have a great week,
Gary