The total number of international arrivals in the Asia-Pacific region plunged by 94 per cent to just 21 million in 2021 – compared to more than 360 million two years earlier before Covid-19 struck – according to data from the World Tourism Organization.

Japan tops world tourism ranking despite Covid-19 restrictions

For many tour operators and airlines, that meant major job cuts, or even closing up shop for good.

But for those who managed to tough it out, the reopening of international borders has presented an opportunity to rebuild with fewer competitors.

Experts have raised concerns that any or all of these issues combined could precipitate a global recession, which raises the question of whether Asia’s all-important tourism sector will be able to maintain its current growth trajectory or end up grounded again.

Here we look at the measures taken by several major destinations in the region to revive their tourism fortunes, and their hopes for the future.

Indonesia

Southeast Asia’s largest economy earned US$16.9 billion from its tourism and creative economy sector in 2019. But that figure tumbled to just US$360 million last year as the pandemic kept visitors away.

In April, 114,537 foreign tourists flew into Bali’s airport – a 232 per cent increase over the 34,000 that arrived the previous month.

With borders reopened, the Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry aims to draw 3.6 million inbound tourists this year, focusing their campaign on Australia, Britain, France, Singapore and the United States.

Bali’s back – but so are the ‘trashy tourists’

The tourism resurgence is expected to create 1.1 million new jobs in the sector, and Sandi has proposed a 700-billion-rupiah (US$49 million) budget to provide loans to prop up “tourism stakeholders at the bottom of the pyramid” with a focus on quality and sustainable offerings.

The minister said he is “cautiously optimistic” that Indonesia’s tourism revival is on track, while noting the risks posed by external developments that are weighing down on the global economy, such as supply chain disruptions caused by Covid-19.

Indonesia’s tourism rebound also faces the risk of stagflation – low or negative economic growth combined with high inflation – as well as geopolitical tensions such as the Ukraine war, Sandi said.

“I’m worried that the prolonged war in Ukraine could impact our economic recovery, but I think we have an opportunity in the next few months to maintain the momentum of our tourism sector’s recovery, particularly when it comes to creating new jobs,” he said.

02:13

Japan to welcome small tour groups after scrapping travel curbs on international visitors

Japan to welcome small tour groups after scrapping travel curbs on international visitors

Japan

Japan announced on Thursday it will reopen to tourists from 98 countries and regions starting on June 10, ending a two-year pandemic closure, but travellers will only be allowed in with tour groups.

Japan will also expand the number of airports that accept international flights to seven, adding Naha in its southern Okinawa prefecture and New Chitose near Sapporo in northern Hokkaido.

Tour groups are expected to take responsibility for ensuring visitors respect near-universal mask-wearing and other measures.

The government has said that it will double the maximum daily limit on overseas arrivals from June, but only to 20,000.

Japan recorded just over 245,000 foreign arrivals last year, a sharp drop from its record 31.88 million visitors in 2019.

Japan to ease Covid border controls in June allowing for more overseas arrivals

Over the past two years, the government has shifted gears and focused on encouraging domestic travel by offering subsidies while also offering support for tour operators, but industry players said the domestic travel campaign had a limited effect, especially after it was suspended because of a surge of Omicron-fuelled cases in 2021.

“By far the best solution would be for the government to open the borders to foreign tourists again,” said Masaru Takayama, president of Kyoto-based Spirit of Japan Travel. “They have announced a plan to start allowing limited numbers of people in from next month, although they are limited in where they can go … but we all hope this is a step in the right direction.”

While the government remains cautious of reopening borders, Japanese tourists appear more gung-ho about going abroad with an increase in demand for flights to destinations such as Hawaii and Los Angeles during the Golden Week holiday earlier this month, according to Mark Marimoto, spokesman for regional low-cost carrier Zipair.

Marimoto said Zipair and its parent company Japan Airlines are both seeing “clear signs of increasing demand”, especially ahead of the summer holiday season from July to August.

“I think there is a lot of pent-up demand for overseas holidays and we are going to see that increase further. We’re not back at 2019 levels yet, but I see a lot of bookings over the coming months,” he said.

Abraa Appal, an analyst with the global business unit of domestic travel giant JTB Corp, said they were seeing a return in demand from foreign tourists, but noted that this was reliant on the government’s easing of restrictions.

“The problem at the moment is primarily the uncertainty surrounding everything. Companies can’t bring back people if there is nothing for them to do yet, so they are being cautious.”

Malaysia

Ganeesh Ramaa, vice-president for inbound travel at MATTA, said an estimated 100,000 tourists had flown into the country during the first three weeks of May, predominantly from India, but also from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Europe.

“[Demand] has picked up. In Europe, especially Germany, there will be a lot of movement from June to July,” he said.

“But for the Far East, which covers China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, it’s still zero because they are still closed, as well as Indonesia where usually they travel a lot but this time for the Hari Raya holidays they were not travelling because of restrictions.”

Travellers flocking to Singapore and Malaysia as Covid-19 curbs eased

Tour operators are currently focusing their promotional efforts on high-volume markets in South and Southeast Asia, Ganeesh said, adding that he expected another surge towards the end of the year when business travel picked up.

He said Malaysia could expect some 5 million arrivals this year based on current bookings and projections – mostly from South Asia, Europe and the Middle East – which is more than double the government’s target of 2 million inbound tourists.

Last year, Malaysia saw around 130,000 international arrivals, spending about 240 million ringgit (US$54.5 million) – a fraction of the 86.1 billion ringgit (US$19.6 billion) spent by the 26.1 million international arrivals in 2019, according to official data.

To jump-start the industry, the government has set aside 1.6 billion ringgit (US$364 million) to cover financial aid for struggling tour operators; funds and matching grants to maintain and repair hotels and other tourism infrastructure; and money for organising art and culture programmes.

But Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid, chief economist at Bank Islam Malaysia, warned that the government should also prepare for the possibility of a global recession, which could scuttle plans to boost tourism.

“I think if the recession really happens, it’s going to be of a different nature. It’s not so much that demand is collapsing but rather that supply cannot keep pace. And the zero-Covid strategy in China, as well as war in Ukraine, appear to be putting more pressure on the supply chain,” he said.

“[The government[ needs to remain expansionary in their fiscal policy. Yes, they need to be mindful of deficits, but cutting them down aggressively may not be the right strategy.”

Singapore

Singapore began an aggressive push to reestablish itself as a premier tourist destination as soon as the borders reopened on April 1, with S$500 million (US$363.8 million) set aside to hire more workers, revive the sector’s business operations and promote the city state as Asia’s “wellness” and “fun” capital.

Plans include a 10-day wellness festival in June, and the launch of an integrated boardsports facility along the Orchard Road shopping belt, with the aim of “raising the ‘delight’ or ‘fun’ quotient of the events and experiences”, Singapore Tourism Board chief executive Keith Tan said in April.

Arrival numbers had already started to recover even before the government reopened international borders, with Changi Airport reporting 1.14 million passengers in March – the first time in two years that number had crossed the 1 million mark.

This month, airport operator Changi Airport Group launched a recruitment drive to fill 6,600 vacancies amid the projected surge in arrival numbers, after Singapore Airlines in February ended a two-year hiring freeze to meet increased staffing requirements.

‘We’ve learned to adapt’: Singapore to stay open even if new variant hits

To bolster Singapore’s position as a regional aviation hub, the government has announced a S$500 million “OneAviation Resilience Package”, including S$60 million in support for the workforce.

A global recession coupled with high inflation and tighter monetary policies could take some of the wind out of Singapore’s tourism sails, DBS Bank senior economist Irvin Seah said – but any recovery is better than none.

“The point to note is that we’re coming from an extremely low base. Nothing can be worse than what we’ve been through over the last two years,” he said.

“So any increase is going to be positive for the Singapore tourism sector, we just don’t expect the pace of increase and tourism arrivals to surge indefinitely, it will have to normalise at some point.”

Thailand

The government pushed back plans to reopen selected destinations several times last year as it grappled with its vaccine roll-out and internal disagreements over the conditions for reopening.

This has led to many trained tourism staff, who had initially been raring to get back to work, now opting to wait and see if the promised June 1 reopening actually goes ahead, according to Bhumikitti Ruktaengam, president of Phuket’s tourism business association.

“There’s a shortage of workers who have gone home during the pandemic and settled down, so businesses have to recruit new people,” he said.

Thailand to lift curbs on nightlife from June to woo back tourists

A recent influx of migrant workers from neighbouring Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos following the loosening of border controls has offered some reprieve, but staffing remains a problem for tour operators in south Thailand, said Marisa Sukosol Nunbhakdi, vice-president and environmental chair of the Thai Hotels Association.

Smaller tour operators are also facing problems securing funds to revive their businesses, especially hotels and resorts that line the beachfronts of Phuket, Krabi and Pattaya, despite pressure from the tourism lobby for banks to extend credit to small businesses.

“People need fresh capital to jump start their businesses. Small-time operators have the most difficulty accessing capital. Maybe they don’t have any collateral, or struggle to get approval from credit,” Bhumikitti said.

Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse