Recovery of major Asia-Pacific tourist destinations to pre-COVID-19 levels may take time

GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, has highlighted that even though major economies across the Asia-Pacific (APAC) started negotiating travel bubble pacts with their key source countries to revive the tourism sector, recovery to pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels may take time even after all restrictions are withdrawn.

International tourist arrivals in the APAC region declined by more than 75% in the first eight months of 2020. Hong Kong reported a loss of more than 90% international visitors in the same period, followed by Japan, South Korea, Macau with more than 80%, and Singapore and Thailand by 79% and 75%, respectively. China, where the COVID-19 was first reported, reported the highest reduction in inbound visitors of 87% in Q1 2020.

GlobalData Economic Research Analyst, Aditi Dutta Chowdhury advises “sharp decline in tourist arrivals is reflected in the…