Reviving Asia-Pacific Tourism is Touch and Go amid Coronavirus Pandemic

Like Australia, Hong Kong effectively closed its borders in March, driving down tourist numbers by 90 percent.

At first, Hong Kong seemed successful in dealing with the pandemic, helped by residents' fastidious mask-wearing and restrictions on public gatherings and restaurants.

Read also: Hong Kong’s Dine-in Ban Revoked After One Day

The city had weeks with zero local transmissions in May and June, and the government relaxed the rules. Hotels offered “staycation” packages and theme parks reopened.

The tourism industry was again plunged into crisis, though, by Hong Kong's worst outbreak in July, with hundreds of new, locally transmitted cases.

Japan's outbreaks have spread across the country with increasing travel during the summer holidays.

In recent days, the number of newly confirmed infections nationwide has topped 1,000 and the number of deaths recently also surpassed 1,000, with more than 31,000 confirmed cases so far.

Critics have faulted Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s administration for its “GoTo” campaign, offering discounts and other incentives for domestic tourism, even though the campaign excluded Tokyo, a hot spot with surging infections.

Thailand, like Vietnam, has been among the success stories of the pandemic.

It has counted around 3,300 cases, with all of them in recent weeks among Thai soldiers, workers and students returning from abroad.

But the UN Conference on Trade and Development recently cited the Southeast Asian travel hub as one of the countries expected to lose the greatest percentage of its GDP due to the pandemic and tourism restrictions.

Thailand’s Cabinet this week approved three projects together worth more than $700 million to help the tourism industry, which normally accounts for more than 10 percent of GDP.

Bali’s reopening to domestic tourism after an almost four-month lockdown is a step toward overseas arrivals resuming in September.

Read also: Bali to Reopen to International Tourists Starting September 11

Normally bustling beaches and streets on the idyllic island were emptied in late March.