Asia tips

Thai Airways is selling its fleet of Airbus A380 planes.

In the evolving landscape of post-Covid travel, Hilton has cast its spotlight on a new demographic, the “GenerAsian Traveler.” Hilton says this group is driven by a strong desire for self-discovery and a deep interest in exploring their cultural and ancestral roots through travel.

International tourism reached 84% of its pre-pandemic level between January and July 2023, according to the UN World Tourism Organization. Around 700 million tourists traveled internationally.

Hotel prices around the world have climbed this summer as Europe continues to thrive without coronavirus-related restrictions.

The Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan is set to reduce its $200 daily tourist fee by half, Reuters reported. The reason? The famously isolationist country, a mountainous sanctuary landlocked between behemoths China and India, is struggling to revitalize its tourism sector a year after dropping its pandemic-related restrictions.

China will persevere with its “dynamic-clearing” approach to Covid-19 cases as soon as they emerge, health officials said on Saturday, adding that measures must be implemented more precisely and meet the needs of vulnerable people.

Despite recession risks and inflation impacts, the travel industry has in fact plenty of significant upsides.

The Middle East is leading international travel recovery in the fourth quarter as inbound arrivals to the region witnessed an increase of 4 percent, long ahead of the global average of a decrease of 30 percent, according to travel analytics firm ForwardKeys. “The FIFA World Cup is certainly the key driver for its travel recovery,” said Juan Gomez, head of market intelligence at ForwardKeys. The latest air ticketing data by ForwardKeys also shows that international arrival levels may be back to normal in 2023, with travel to the Middle East up by 15 percent on pre-pandemic levels in the first quarter. Overall, the outlook for 2023 looks promising, despite high inflation in key source markets and the looming recession, FowardKeys noted. The Middle East is also attracting more premium travellers than in 2019, the travel analytics firm noted with Saudi Arabia showing the greatest growth. Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon are also showing growth, with a regional average of 11  percent above 2019.

AirAsia Aviation Group on Friday announced a joint venture with Cambodia-based Sivilai Asia to launch a new low-cost carrier — AirAsia Cambodia.

India is making a PCR Covid test mandatory for inbound arrivals from China, Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, Japan, and South Korea, from January 1.

The absence of Chinese tourists as countries around the world opened their borders again remains the most impactful development this year. China’s commitment to zero Covid cases dashed the normalcy return hopes of the global tourism industry.

Now that Covid is “officially over,” so is AirAsia superapp’s ambitions of being a lifestyle superapp.

Chinese state media defended on Wednesday the retaliatory measures against South Korea and Japan over their COVID-19 travel curbs as “reasonable”, while Chinese tourists decried Seoul’s “insulting” treatment on social media.

South Korean hospitality tech company Onda, announced on Thursday that it has raised $10 million in its Series-B funding round.

FCM Travel, Flight Centre’s principal corporate-focused agency, is gaining from the business travel pick-up in every part of the world — apart from Asia. As a whole, the Australian group only managed to break even in the region, according to its 2023 first-half results, when taking into account business and leisure sales.

Indonesian property firm PT MNC Land launched on Friday a 1,040 hectare (2,570 acre) tourism complex on Java island, where former U.S. President Donald Trump’s company will operate a hotel and a golf course.

When you think of Southeast Asia, one automatically assumes the region is largely tech-enabled with its super-app culture and payment wallets that leapfrogged traditional banking; all fluidly switched on for digital purchases. But this couldn’t be further from the truth for the tours and activities landscape across the region.

Cambodia is upending the lives of thousands of people to preserve the temple complex Angkor Wat and improve its visitor experience. Locals that have built businesses and resided there for years will be cut out of the temple’s tourism economy.

Brand USA is hosting its first sales mission in Japan since the country opened to travel in October. The mission this month comes as Japan — a top U.S. tourist market — has been slow to rebound to its 2019 level.

U.S. tourism organizations and businesses are replacing the billions of dollars in Chinese tourist spending with other markets.