SE Asia may gain most from China's travel revival
Southeast Asia's tourist economies are set to be leading beneficiaries of Beijing's scrapping of travel bans as they have steered clear of the Covid-19 tests before entry that Europe, Japan and the United States have imposed on visitors coming from China. While Australia, Britain, India, Japan and the US are among the nations that require a negative Covid-19 test from inbound Chinese, Southeast Asian countries – from Cambodia to Indonesia and Singapore – have all declined such requirements. Except for airplane wastewater testing by Malaysia and Thailand for the virus, the region's 11 nations will treat Chinese travellers like any others. "We are not taking the stance of discriminating [against] any countries," Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim had said earlier. From January 8, Chinese travellers arriving back in the mainland will no longer need to quarantine, which was one of the main barriers to travel for the country's population. The move to drop the quarantine requirement – announced in late December – sparked a frenzy of trip planning, with searches spiking for Macau, Hong Kong, Japan, Thailand and South Korea. Chinese tourists had made up about a third of all pre-pandemic foreign visitors to South Korea and were among the top three groups visiting Thailand and Indonesia. And nearly 9.6 million Chinese visited Japan in 2019, the biggest group of foreign tourists by far. Meanwhile, state media on Friday reported that the mainland's aviation regulator wants air traffic to reach around 75 percent of pre-pandemic levels in 2023. The Civil Aviation Administration of China is looking to "grasp the rhythm of the industry's recovery and development" in achieving certain volume and traffic figures, broadcaster CCTV reported. (Reuters/AFP)