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Destinations knownHow the Hong Kong protests are affecting Asia’s tourism industry – the winners and losers

As travellers from the region choose to stay away from the territory, other destinations benefit from big spenders

But it is not good news for everyone – proximity to political turmoil seems to turn arrivals off Macau and Shenzhen

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Tourists in Macau’s Senado Square, in July. Photo: SCMP

Published: 8:36am, 27 Nov 2019Updated: 8:36am, 27 Nov 2019

As civil unrest in Hong Kong stretches into its sixth month, the territory’s tourism industry has taken a battering. Arrivals fell almost 40 per cent in August compared to the same period the previous year, and the first 15 days of October saw a 50 per cent decline, marking the worst downturn since the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome in 2003.

And it’s not just Hong Kong that is feeling the effects of the protests. While mainland Chinese tourists are avoiding their erstwhile favourite destination, their appetite for wanderlust is taking them and their e-wallets elsewhere. According to China’s largest online travel agent, Ctrip, after taking third place in 2018’s list of the most popular places for travellers from the Middle Kingdom to visit during “golden week”, Hong Kong did not even feature in the top 10 for 2019, which ran from October 1 to 7, slipping behind Japan, Thailand, Singapore, the United States, Australia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Britain and Italy.

Mainland Chinese visitors to the Land of the Rising Sun are up more than 25 per cent on 2018, according to the most recent figures from the Japan Tourism Agency, and they are spending more, too.

It is not good news for everyone, though. In a November 15 interview with Reuters, AirAsia’s chief executive, Tony Fernandes, said Macau and Shenzhen were suffering from their proximity to the protests, with demand for flights to the cities falling.

“It is bad,” he told the news service.

Commenting on the downturn in demand for flights to Macau and Shenzhen, Tony Fernandes, chief executive of AirAsia, said: ‘It is bad.’ Photo: Antony Dickson