Asia-Pacific reopens for tourism, but recovery is slow

Monday, September 19, 2022

Japan is getting ready to join other top Asia-Pacific destinations fully reopening to tourism.

But the region’s beaches, shopping meccas and cultural sites are finding the return to pre-Covid prosperity is slower than in the U.S. and Europe, in part because would-be Chinese tourists are still largely stuck at home.

Government officials in Tokyo said Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was preparing soon to lift entry restrictions and put Japan on par with the U.S. and European nations that generally allow short-term tourists to visit freely without COVID-19 tests.

Currently, Japan bars individual tourists.

Mr. Kishida is set to speak about his economic plans at the New York Stock Exchange during a visit to New York that starts Monday.

The time is finally coming, said Masaaki Ono, who owns a kimono rental business in the Tokyo tourist area of Asakusa.


The area features an old-fashioned shopping street leading to a temple that was packed with foreign visitors before COVID-19. Mr. Ono said he recently hired back an interpreter to get ready.

The strong U.S. dollar means Americans and others with dollar-linked currencies can get more for their money abroad.

A day’s kimono rental now costs the equivalent of $25, compared with the equivalent of around $33 last year when the yen was stronger. It would be extremely cheap for them, predicted Mr. Ono.

Still, experience in nations from New Zealand to South Korea suggests that it will take several years more for tourism businesses in the Asia-Pacific region to enjoy 2019-like conditions.

The region’s recovery is slower than in Europe, where indicators suggest travel and spending this summer was near the prepandemic peak. In the U.S., travel spending by international visitors recovered to $7.4 billion in July, 65% of the level in July 2019, according to the Commerce Department.

The biggest reason is China, the exception to the opening-up trend. It used to be a top source of tourists throughout Asia.

These days, a slowdown in passport issuance and onerous quarantines for those returning to China from abroad mean it is difficult for Chinese people to leave their country.

Beijing has told people not to travel abroad unnecessarily, and flights are limited.

Thailand had nearly 40 million visitors in 2019, and tourism accounted for nearly one-sixth of the economy.

As of the middle of this year, Thailand and most other Southeast Asian nations have lifted almost all pandemic-related restrictions on tourism.

Officials this year are hoping the visitor number tops 10 million. But the World Bank has projected that even in 2024, Thailand’s visitors will reach only 60% of the peak.

Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn, said at a conference in August that they believe that the lowest point of the economic crisis from the pandemic is now behind us, Thailand’s tourism minister. It’s time for us to get back on track.

Australia ended the nearly two-year closure of its international border in February, hoping to reignite a tourism industry that employed one in 12 Australians and accounted for one in eight of the country’s businesses before Covid-19, according to financial-services firm Deloitte.

The country welcomed almost 1.1 million overseas arrivals in July, but that was still less than half the level of January 2020.

A similar situation prevails in New Zealand, which reopened its border to tourists in April.

One challenge in Australia and elsewhere is getting the travel industry back into fighting shape. Covid-19 remains a cause of employee absences.

In addition, Australia and New Zealand saw a resurgence in influenza during the Southern Hemisphere winter.

Lines at Sydney Airport stretched out of the terminal building during the school-holiday period in June, and delays at security checkpoints grew because of staff shortages.

The passenger recovery is encouraging but it continues to track ahead of the workforce recovery, said Geoff Culbert, Sydney Airport’s chief executive officer.

Air New Zealand Ltd. in August canceled some domestic and international flights for the next six months as Covid-19 and the flu swept through its workforce.

Qantas Airways Ltd. said nearly half its flights didn’t depart on time in July due to factors including pilots calling in sick.

The numbers have since improved. Qantas has hired 1,500 staff since April and is still hiring.

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said that their flights are full and we can’t bring aircraft out of storage fast enough, Aug. 25.

Japan welcomed more than 30 million visitors in 2019 and South Korea recorded 17.5 million, both records. Both countries, however, relied heavily on visitors from China and Hong Kong.

Not just Japan, but China and other countries also must move ahead with border-easing for tourism to recover its pre-pandemic size, said Masato Koike, an economist at Dai-ichi Life Research Institute in Tokyo.

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