Asia settles on the border, throwing the cloud on the COVID-hit | World Trade News

Hwaseong, South Korea – Asia-Pacific countries continue to push for more border controls despite rising vaccine prices, diminishing hopes of a recovery for the plague-affected travel industry.

While China and Hong Kong are drifting away from the strict “zero COVID” rule that mandates isolation for several weeks, countries such as Japan, South Korea, Australia, Singapore and Malaysia are pursuing a middle ground in which unnecessary travel remains. strictly prohibited.

The care of the region is at odds with Europe and North America, where vaccinated travelers, including tourists, can travel freely with minimal restrictions without the harmful effects of COVID.

“Asia still has a long way to go before it can be reopened in Europe and North America,” Jayant Menon, senior guest at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore, told Al Jazeera.

“Some of these are explained and need to be met, but not all. Even countries with the highest vaccine … do not immediately open their borders as they reduce domestic restrictions. . “

Japan and South Korea, where vaccination rates are close to 80 percent, have not announced a date to resume tourism even though they have eased restrictions on new arrivals such as travelers and students.

Australia, where about 70 percent of the population is vaccinated twice, has indicated that foreign visitors will not return until next year.

Malaysia, where 77 percent of the population is closed twice, remains closed to immigrants, with plans to begin receiving foreign visitors by January.

Singapore, where more than 80 percent of the population has undergone two doses of vaccination, has resumed a slow-moving private population through a vaccination campaign, which next month will include 21 countries.

Arrivals in most parts of Asia were down 99 percent below the epidemic in September, compared with a 20 percent drop in Mexico and about 65 percent in Southern Europe, according to figures published by Capital Economics.

Prior to the epidemic, Asia-Pacific received about 291 million visitors annually, adding $ 875bn to the economy, according to the World Economic Forum’s Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index 2019.

‘Quick recovery’

Joshua Ng, director of Alton Aviation Consultancy in Singapore, told Al Jazeera that he did not expect international travel to return until 2024 or 2025 when the region recovered rapidly from Western, Asia-Pacific. and China.

“Asian countries have shown caution and this is due to a number of viral epidemics – such as SARS, H1N1, MERs – that have profoundly affected Asian countries in the 21st century,” said Ng.

“The response to the COVID-19 epidemic is a reflection of what has happened in the past. At the beginning of the epidemic, Asian countries were among the first countries to close their borders and initiate urban closure to prevent the spread of COVID-19.”

While the Asia-Pacific governments have refused to resume their speed, hopes of a speedy recovery have been dashed in anticipation of China’s closure of the rest of the world by the end of 2022 or beyond.

Prior to the epidemic, the world’s second-largest economy, which has grown significantly in attempts to eliminate COVID-19 with stable closure, isolation and mass testing, is said to account for about a third of all visitors to the region.

“While there is a lot of demand, as long as China, which took about 30 percent of immigrants before the crisis, closed its borders, recovery could be difficult,” said Gareth Leather, an Asian economist. Capital Economics, told Al Jazeera.

It goes beyond tourism, it goes beyond business trips. There are many reasons why people visit. They go to study, they go to visit relatives and friends, they go abroad

Gary Bowerman, head of Check-in Asia

Other countries in the region, including those with patchy vaccine, have adopted a more aggressive approach. India, where at least a third of the population has been vaccinated twice, reopened its border on Monday for visitors from more than 90 countries.

Thailand, which relied on tourism for about one-fifth of gross domestic product (GDP) prior to the epidemic, also reopened visitors from more than 60 countries on November 1, following a critical response to a “sandbox” with no locals. Phuket.

Gary Bowerman, chief executive of a travel and tourism research company at Kuala Lumpur Check-in Asia, said there was a growing awareness of the fall rate of global travel.

“It goes beyond tourism, it goes beyond business. There are a lot of reasons why people visit,” Bowerman said. “They go to study, they go to visit relatives and friends, they go to emigrate …

Bowerman predicted a difficult time in the future as the companies looked at a new approach after calculating the required costs between returnees and visiting friends and relatives.

“Once the operation is over, the tourism and airlines need to know what will happen,” Bowerman said. “Are business trips going back to the way they were before? You hear some people say ‘yes,’ you hear some people say ‘no.’ We do not know at this time. ”

“People are trying to predict what will happen next year, but we don’t know,” he added. “No one knew it would be two years when people were not moving.”