What can tourists coming to Asia expect?
Since January this year, International tourism continued its recovery with a much better performance compared to the woeful start to 2021, according to the World Trade Organization (UNWTO). Global international tourist arrivals was up 130% in January compared to 2021, so much so that the 18 million more visitors recorded worldwide in January 2022, equals the total increase year 2021 achieved over 2020.
Against this backdrop Asia-Pacific recording a 44% year-on-year increase, may pale in comparison; with several destinations still remaining closed to non-essential travel and is still (-93%) below in the number of arrivals recorded in 2019.
After a long and painful hiatus international tourism is now gradually returning to South East Asia. Sri Lanka in recent weeks announced that it is ready to admit fully-vaccinated foreign tourists sans any tests for COVID-19. That’s a step in the right direction…at least for the tourism industry. The rollout of vaccines and rollback of coronavirus restrictions is bound to be a welcome catalyst.
Unfortunately, the war in Ukraine is complicating the entire travel scenario, as the uneasiness of how events there may unfold, is making people in Europe think twice about planning a trip. The good news though, is that those who do decide to go ahead and make it real could potentially opt for holidaying in Asia, which is several thousand miles away from Ukraine.
The downside to this is that airlines will be forced to chart a route that avoids flying close to the war zone and that, despite been a safe precaution, is an unfortunate development - because flights can be now be more expensive and take longer.
Apart from higher airfares, long hours of flying and perhaps cheaper hotels – at least for the short-term, what else awaits the travel weary visitor? Ah yes…an avalanche of paperwork that starts even before embarking on the journey; such as uploading all the required documents – vaccination records, proof of health insurance, government travel apps and hotel reservations as well as others. Those who are not computer savvy will find this not only a hassle but hard to navigate.
On the other hand, whilst these raft of constraints await the potential traveler, the reward of less crowds – particularly since China, the biggest single source of tourists in the region, has no immediate plans to reopen its borders, will be a welcome respite.
Then there is the prospect of encountering an industry that is grappling with finding enough people to work in the restaurants and hotels potentially leading to poor service and supply chain disruptions that can mean not having this or that. Travelers, who have been to the destination before the pandemic, may also discover that some of their favourite restaurants have closed for good.
Amidst all this, is that lurking fear of catching COVID: meaning having to quarantine. Or getting caught up in a situation where the government rules suddenly change whilst on vacation.
Bottom-line is that international travelers would want to be in a country that can deal with these issues effectively without throwing their holiday into utter disarray.
Shafeek Wahab – Editor, Hospitality Sri Lanka, Consultant, Trainer, Ex-Hotelier
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