LAST WORD 54
Sharon Singleton
Managing Editor, AGB
Asia tourism authorities to struggle to fill China hole After two long years and numerous stops and starts it appears that Southeast Asia’s reopening to tourism is becoming a reality as more countries drop their inbound quarantine requirements.
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So far Beijing has shown no signs of making any rom April 1st, Singapore dropped all restrictions on fully vaccinated travelers, requiring only a changes to its zero-Covid policy, with borders expected negative test before departure. There are no more to remain closed throughout the rest of this year. That entry quotas, or vaccinated travel lanes, while the leaves a very large hole in the global tourism market. Just a few years ago, the China Outbound Tourism Research busy land border with Malaysia has also reopened. Thailand and Bali have been welcoming tourists Institute (COTRI) was forecasting that the number of for some time. But from April 1st, Thailand will scrap Chinese traveling overseas would have passed the 200 pre-departure Covid tests, only requiring one on arrival million mark this year. Many of the large integrated resorts across the region instead as it seeks to kick-start a sector that accounts for were clearly geared to cater for this travel segment, a fifth of the economy. The Philippines has announced quarantine-free entry hiring Chinese-speaking staff and providing Chinese for foreign tourists, while Vietnam announced it was restaurants. They of course were also the ones who were reopening for business from mid-March. Cambodia was filling the casinos. The tourism industry has been scrabbling to try to pivot an early mover, welcoming travelers back from late last year and South Korea will allow quarantine-free travel its marketing strategies, but it’s hard to see any segment that could come anywhere close to also from April 1st. plugging such a large gap. Wealthy Early indications are that there Thais, Malaysians, Indonesians, is pent-up demand. In Singapore for and South Koreans are likely to find example, Expedia said it had seen a Mainland themselves in hot demand. doubling of flight searches after the China is It’s worth asking whether lifting of restrictions was announced. another year or so of lackluster All of this will be welcome news struggling with its gaming revenue may increase for Asia’s integrated resort markets, worst outbreak pressure on governments to lift their which are almost wholly reliant on locals ban, but it seems unlikely at foreign visitors, with locals banned since the early present. Tourism authorities on from entering casinos. days in Wuhan. South Korea’s Jeju Island have been However, it’s not expected to be reviewing measures that might help plain sailing. Airline schedules have its casino industry, which is on its been severely disrupted for two years knees with only three out of eight now and that takes time to reboot. As Gary Bowerman, director of Check-in Asia, recently reopening, but it has ruled out a proposal that would have told AGB, this means inter-regional travel in the ASEAN allowed South Koreans from the peninsula to gamble. As the rest of Asia looks forward to a brighter, if not markets is not as easy as it was prior to the pandemic. Governments are keen to recapture those tourism yet a stellar year, Macau is again looking at much of the dollars, but there could be more in terms of regional same. Its zero-Covid policy means it will remain virtually cooperation to get people moving again. The focus since closed off to the outside world. Quarantine-free travel is only allowed from the the pandemic has been on promoting domestic tourism as much as possible to try to fill the void and a shift in Mainland, as long as there are no localized restrictions. Residents who return to the city after traveling still need mindset might be necessary to turn outwards again. Tourism experts aren’t really expecting a large-scale to undergo a 14-day stay in a government-mandated recovery until the second half of the year, barring major hotel. That was recently cut from 21 days, though is setbacks, but note that there is a sense of optimism and a still too restrictive to permit all but essential travel. And travelers from outside the Greater China area are banned clear starting point from which to build. What will of course be missing is the Chinese. China from entry at all. Macau’s gross gambling revenue will be lucky if it is struggling with its worst outbreak since the early days in Wuhan. It has locked down cities affecting millions reaches half of its pre-pandemic levels this year, while of people and has embarked on large-scale mass testing, S&P Global Ratings is gloomier suggesting it will only reach 30-40 percent of 2019. including the whole of Shanghai.
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Asia Gaming Briefings | April 2022
