Coronavirus before and after – amazing photos compare Asia’s favourite destinations. Will epidemic be the end of overtourism in the region?
- Asia’s tourist hotspots are all deserted and businesses are feeling the strain as the virus continues to spread in the region
- Comparison images show how empty these normally packed locations have become
As dawn breaks, the unmistakable tapered towers of Angkor Wat emerge from the gloom – but for once there are no tourists jostling on its steps to capture Cambodia’s most famous sunrise.
Asia’s most Instagrammable sites – temples, promenades, shopping streets, museums and mausoleums – are empty, victims of the virus. The usual crowds have evaporated from Sensoji temple in Tokyo and Shanghai’s Bund; the viewpoint at The Peak in Hong Kong and the usual pedestrian crush along Sydney Harbour.
Many of the missing visitors are from China – a country whose travellers have completely reshaped the tourist economies of Asia over the past few years, yet where only around 10 per cent of the population hold passports.
Chinese-speaking Cambodian guide Hor Sophea has not taken any tours since late January. Several weeks on, money is getting tight.