Southeast Asia is rapidly lifting all border restrictions, helping the recovery in the region accelerate and gradually catch up with other parts of the world, such as North America and Europe.
Airline bookings for flights to Southeast Asia, especially to countries like Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, surged in April, where quarantines have been exempted from travelers who have had two Covid-19 vaccinations.
Gary Bowerman, director of travel and tourism research company Check-in Asia, said: “April is a very important month for Southeast Asia. Optimism is back. People are thinking about and discussing travel more now than ever before. Just look at the search volume on Google to see this.”
Google searches for travel-related information to Singapore have spiked, especially from neighboring Malaysia, as well as Indonesia, India and Australia, according to data compiled by economists at Investment Bank. Maybank followed. Search volume for Singapore tourism has increased by about 20% since the last week of March.
According to the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore, in the week ending April 17, the number of passengers arriving in Singapore by air reached 400,000, equivalent to 31% of pre-pandemic levels after the country lifted most restrictions on fully vaccinated travelers earlier this month.
Changi Airport welcomed 1.14 million passengers in March, surpassing the 1 million mark for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic hit after authorities allowed foreign travelers to get tested quickly, instead of having to undergo testing by analytical biological technique (PCR) since February 22.
And as of April 26, all vaccinated travelers and unvaccinated children under 12 years old can enter Singapore without being tested before departure.
There are expected to be about 307 flights a week from Malaysia to Singapore by the end of year 5, more than double from the beginning of this year, according to data compiled by BloombergNEF. Flights from Indonesia to the island nation will also quadruple from 55 to 222, while flights from India will reach 190 from 100 in early 2022.
In Thailand, where international tourism contributes about 15% of GDP, foreign arrivals rose 38% in March from February after authorities eased testing and health insurance requirements, according to Thailand’s Ministry of Tourism.
Thailand has also eased entry requirements for fully vaccinated travelers since early April and plans to replace the molecular biology (PCR) Covid-19 test with voluntary rapid testing on them from 1-5.
According to Thailand’s Center for the Management of the Covid-19 Situation, from April 1 to 27, the number of foreign visitors to Thailand reached 358,364. Singapore tourists accounted for the majority, followed by visitors to Thailand from UK, India, Germany and Australia.
At the end of April, the Thai government forecast that the number of foreign tourists will reach 6.1 million people this year, an increase of nearly 15 times compared to 2021. That number is still low compared to 41 million foreign visitors that Thailand welcomes in 2019.
Now, however, Thailand’s Tourism Minister, Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn, expects Thailand to welcome between 8-15 million international visitors this year. “We expect the tourism outlook to be much better in the second half of this year, especially if the epidemic situation in China improves and Chinese tourists return,” he said.
Malaysia has also reopened its borders since April 1, allowing vaccinated travelers to be exempt from quarantine for the first time in two years. Starting from May 1, fully vaccinated travelers are exempt from Covid-19 testing before departure and after entering Malaysia.
However, the Southeast tourism industry still faces many difficulties. Airfares are more expensive due to higher oil prices, which may hold back some of the recovery of the tourism industry. In addition, the number of flights to Southeast Asia is limited because airlines have not fully resumed their services. China still closes the border, while Hong Kong still maintains a one-week mandatory isolation policy even for returnees.
Hannah Pearson, director of travel consulting firm Pear Anderson, based in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), said: “The initial excitement will fade. Now, I think tourists are still quite nervous when they choose a destination and they will look for the easiest places to go.”
Tourism and travel are important pillars to strengthen the economies of Southeast Asian countries. According to the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the smokeless industry accounted for 12.1% of the region’s GDP before the pandemic.
@ Saigon Tiep Thi
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Source: Vietnam Insider