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Destinations known | Macau’s casinos are empty, officials in Bali are praying – how Asian destinations are responding to threat from coronavirus

Elsewhere in Asia, countries such as North Korea, Singapore, India and Nepal have placed restrictions on Chinese arrivals

Tourism facing bleak prospects as visitor numbers expected to drop in places like Thailand

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Temperature checks at the entrance to the Galaxy Macau casino and hotel on January 24. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 9:00am, 5 Feb 2020Updated: 9:00am, 5 Feb 2020

If 2019 was the year that overtourism tormented Asia’s travel industry, the main threat this year looks like being the deadly new coronavirus, which has infected tens of thousands of people and killed more than 400 in mainland China. For tourist destinations across the region, that threat could prove existential, as too many visitors fast become too few.

Travellers from mainland China made 180 million outbound trips last year, according to an estimate from the China Outbound Tourism Research Institute, and everywhere from Bali to Bangkok have become reliant on the money they spend.

On January 25, the first day of the Lunar New Year, the China Travel Service Association announced the suspension of all group tours and package trips, both within the country and beyond. Although this restriction does not extend to independent adventurers – who accounted for more than 40 per cent of the Chinese outbound market in 2017, according to data from Trip.com, the nation’s largest online travel agency – fear of spreading or catching the coronavirus, not to mention the ugly anti-Chinese sentiment it has inspired, is keeping many grounded.

Besides, countries are being closed to Chinese arrivals across the globe. North Korea, Russia, Mongolia, Vietnam, Kazakhstan, India and Nepal have placed restrictions on those coming from China, as have a number of nations that don’t share a border with the Middle Kingdom, such as Singapore, Japan, the Philippines, the United States, Australia and Italy. Even the special autonomous regions of Hong Kong and Macau, through whose checkpoints more than 80 million mainland Chinese passed last year, have stemmed the flow of people.

In Bali, tourism officials turned to the gods for help, holding a mass prayer after at least 15,000 Chinese tourists cancelled trips to the Indonesian island. Speaking to The Jakarta Post on January 31, the head of the Bali Tourism Agency, Putu Astawa, said: “We hope [the coronavirus outbreak] will be over soon. We are truly aware that the tourism industry is the backbone of Bali’s economy.” However, it looks like it could be some time before the situation improves. On February 3, the Indonesian government announced greater restrictions on those arriving from China.

.css-1m2rp1p{color:#34b8b5;}Destinations known | Macau’s casinos are empty, officials in Bali are praying – how Asian destinations are responding to threat from coronavirus

Destinations known | Macau’s casinos are empty, officials in Bali are praying – how Asian destinations are responding to threat from coronavirus