From the beaches of Bali to Hokkaido’s powdery ski slopes, the hordes of Chinese often seen in pre-Covid days will still be missing, tour operators said.

It’s a bitter disappointment for many businesses that had been hoping lean pandemic times were over after Beijing relaxed restrictions on travel and stopped requiring weeks-long quarantines. Still, bookings for overseas travel have skyrocketed, suggesting it’s only a matter of time until the industry recovers.

• Related: Hong Kong eliminates some Covid rules, including vaccine passes

“I think the tourists will return around the end of February or early March at the earliest,” said Sisdivachr Cheewarattaporn, president of the Thai Travel Agents Association, noting that many Chinese lack passports, flights are limited and tour operators are still gearing up to handle group travel.

Covid-19 risks are another big factor as outbreaks persist following the policy about-face in China, he said in an interview. “People are possibly not ready, or just getting ready.”

For now, the Chinese territories of Macao and Hong Kong appear to be the most favored destinations.

Just days before Sunday’s start of the Lunar New Year, iconic tourist spots in the former Portuguese colony, like historic Senado Square and the Ruins of St. Paul’s, were packed. Gambling floors at two major casinos were largely full, with groups of Chinese visitors sitting around the craps tables.

“I’m so busy every day and don’t have time to rest,” said souvenir shop owner Lee Hong-soi. He said sales had recovered to about 70%-80% of the pre-pandemic days from nearly nothing just weeks ago.

Kathy Lin was visiting from Shanghai, partly because it was easy to get a visa but also because she was concerned about risks of catching Covid-19. “I don’t dare to travel overseas yet,” she said as she and a friend took photos near the ruins, originally the 17th century Church of Mater Dei.

That worry is keeping many would-be vacation goers at home even after China relaxed “zero Covid” restrictions that sought to isolate all cases with mass testing and onerous quarantines.

“The elderly in my family have not been infected, and I don’t want to take any risks. There’s also the possibility of being infected again by other variants,” said Zheng Xiaoli, 44, an elevator company employee in southern China’s Guangzhou. Africa was on her bucket list before the pandemic, but despite yearning to travel overseas, she said, “There are still uncertainties, so I will exercise restraint.”

Cong Yitao, an auditor living in Beijing, wasn’t worried about catching the virus since his whole family has already had Covid-19. But he was put off by testing restrictions and other limits imposed by some countries, including the U.S., Japan, South Korea and Australia, after China loosened its pandemic precautions.

“It looks like many countries don’t welcome us,” said Cong, who instead was planning to head for a subtropical destination in China, like Hainan island or Xishuangbanna, to enjoy some warm weather.

According to Trip.com, a major travel services company, overseas travel bookings for the Jan. 21 to 27 Lunar New Year holidays were up more than five-fold. But that was up from almost nothing the year before, when China’s borders were closed to most travelers.

Reservations for travel to Southeast Asia were up 10-fold, with Thailand a top choice, followed by Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia and Indonesia.

Travel to other favorite places, like the tropical resort island of Bali and Australia, has been constrained by a lack of flights. But that is changing, with new flights being added daily.

“You will see an increase, certainly, compared with last year, when China was still closed, but I don’t think you will see a huge surge of outbound travelers to different destinations within Asia-Pacific, let alone Europe or the Americas,” said Haiyan Song, a professor of international tourism at Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

Tourism Australia forecasts that spending by international travelers will surpass pre-pandemic levels within a year’s time. Before the disruptions of Covid-19, Chinese accounted for almost one-third of tourist spending, nearly $9 billion.

Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport has increased staffing to cope with more than 140,000 arrivals a day during the Lunar New Year rush, though only individual Chinese travelers will be coming for now — group tours from China have yet to resume.

As a brilliant orange sun set behind ancient Wat Arun, beside Bangkok’s Chao Phraya river, a Shanghai man who would give only his surname, Zhang, posed with a companion in colorful traditional silken Thai costumes.

“It’s very cold in China, and Thailand has summer weather,” said Zhang, adding that he knew many people who had booked tickets to get away from his hometown’s cold, damp weather.

Still, for many Chinese, the allure of world travel has been eclipsed, for now, by a desire to head to their hometowns and catch up with their families, nearly three years exactly since the first major coronavirus outbreak struck in the central city of Wuhan in one of the biggest catastrophes of modern times.

Isabelle Wang, a finance worker in Beijing, has traveled to Europe, the Middle East and parts of Asia. After three years of a slower-paced life during the pandemic, her priority is to be reunited with her family in Shangrao, a city in south-central China.

“There’s still a lot of time remaining in our lifetimes, and there will certainly be opportunities to go abroad later when we want to,” she said.

___

Leung reported from Hong Kong and Macao. News assistant Caroline Chen in Beijing and Associated Press journalists Rod McGuirk in Canberra, Tassanee Vejpongsa and Chalida Ekvitthayavechnukul in Bangkok, and Edna Tarigan in Jakarta, Indonesia, contributed to this report. 

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The announcement Tuesday adds to abrupt changes that are rolling back some of the world’s strictest anti-virus controls as President Xi Jinping’s government tries to reverse an economic slump. Rules that confined millions of people to their homes kept China’s infection rate low but fueled public frustration and crushed economic growth.

The latest decision could send free-spending Chinese tourists to revenue-starved destinations in Asia and Europe for Lunar New Year, which begins Jan. 22 and usually is the country’s busiest travel season. But it also presents a danger they might spread Covid-19 as infections surge in China.

• Cover story: 2022, the year in review

Travel services companies Trip.com and Qunar said international ticket bookings and searches for visa information on their websites rose five to eight times after Tuesday’s announcement. Top destinations included Japan, Thailand, South Korea, the United States, Britain and Australia.

Japan, India, South Korea and Taiwan have responded to the Chinese wave of infections by requiring virus tests for visitors from China.

China stopped issuing visas to foreigners and passports to its own people at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020.

The National Immigration Administration of China said it will start taking applications Jan. 8 for passports for tourists to go abroad.

The agency said it will take applications to extend, renew or reissue visas but gave no indication when they might be issued to first-time applicants.

China will “gradually resume” admitting foreign visitors, the agency said. It gave no indication when tourist travel from abroad might resume.

The changes will “create better conditions for orderly cross-border travel” and “bring more benefits to global economic development,” said a Foreign Ministry spokesman, Wang Wenbin.

China will “work with all countries” to “restore safety and stability to global industrial and supply chains and promote world economic recovery,” Wang said.

Health experts and economists expect the ruling Communist Party to keep limits on travel into China until at least mid-2023 while it carries out a campaign to vaccinate millions of elderly people. Experts say that is necessary to prevent a public health crisis.

During the pandemic, Chinese with family emergencies or work travel deemed important could obtain passports, but some students and businesspeople with visas to go to foreign countries were blocked by border guards from leaving. The handful of foreign businesspeople and others who were allowed into China were quarantined for up to one week.

Before the pandemic, China was the biggest source of foreign tourists for most of its Asian neighbors and an important market for Europe and the United States.

The government has dropped or eased most quarantine, testing and other restrictions within China, joining the United States, Japan and other governments in trying to live with the virus instead of stamping out transmission.

Japan and India have begun requiring virus tests for travelers from China. South Korea tests all visitors with elevated temperatures. South Korea says anyone who tests positive will be quarantined at home or in a hotel for a week.

South Korean officials said possible additional measures for arrivals from China will be announced Friday.
U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to relate internal discussions, said Washington is considering taking similar steps.

Taiwan on Wednesday announced visitors from China will be tested starting Jan. 1.

Hong Kong authorities said Wednesday they would scrap some of the city’s Covid-19 restrictions, including PCR tests for all inbound travelers and vaccination requirements to enter certain venues. The easing comes as the southern city prepares for a reopening of borders with mainland China next month.

On Monday, the Chinese government said it would remove quarantine requirements for travelers arriving from abroad, also effective Jan. 8. Foreign companies welcomed the change as an important step to revive slumping business activity.

Business groups have warned global companies were shifting investment away from China because foreign executives were blocked from visiting.

The American Chamber of Commerce in China says more than 70% of companies that responded to a poll this month expect the impact of the latest wave of outbreaks to last no more than three months, ending in early 2023.

The government has stopped reporting nationwide case numbers but announcements by some cities indicate at least tens and possibly hundreds of millions of people might have been infected since the surge began in early October.
Experts have forecast 1 million to 2 million deaths in China through the end of 2023.

Also Monday, the government downgraded the official seriousness of Covid-19 and removed it from a list of illnesses that require quarantine. It said authorities would stop tracking close contacts and designating areas as being at high or low risk of infection.
___

Associated Press writers Zeke Miller in Washington and Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report.

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After tourism officials voiced concern about the controversial law’s potential impact, Indonesia last week clarified that tourists and foreign nationals living in Indonesia will be exempt. Violation of the law, which will take around three years to implement, will be punishable by up to one year in prison.

The combination of foreigners being exempt and the long lead time has meant a muted response from potential visitors. 

Francesco Galli Zugaro, founder and CEO of Aqua Expeditions, said there hasn’t been any guest concerns.

“This is purely an issue in three years when it takes effect, and only in the event that a relative makes a claim,” Zugaro said, referring to the law’s requirement that a family member makes a claim about the violation. 

Adrian Pardede, assistant director of public relations and communications for the Four Seasons resorts in Bali at Jimbaran Bay and Sayan, also said that given the law won’t take effect for three years and doesn’t apply to foreigners, “it’s very much business as usual and no cause for concern for anyone visiting the country.”

Indonesia received more than 16 million visitors in 2019.

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Japan reopened to independent, inbound tourism on Oct. 11, one of the last countries to reopen in the Covid era and more than two and a half years after first closing its borders in March 2020.

Travelers will still need to show proof of three doses of an approved vaccine to avoid inbound Covid testing. Unvaccinated travelers are allowed entry but must submit a negative Covid test taken within 72 hours of departure.

Tour operators who specialize in Japan say that demand has surged since the country announced on Sept. 23 that it would officially reopen this month. 

“There’s a lot of people out there quoting, checking out airfare, things like that,” Scott Avera, president of Alexander + Roberts, said on Oct. 5. “We’ve seen a nice spike in that since they announced the Oct. 11 reopening. Our 2023 bookings for Japan are currently at 98% of our 2019 level, which was a great year in Japan, and 57% of those bookings in 2023 are new business.”

Avera, A+R’s president, talks about the challenges and demands of travel to the country.

Avera said he anticipates those booking numbers to spike in the next two weeks following the opening. Other travel industry experts say they expect not only demand to increase in the coming months but also spending.

Felix Genatio, senior business data analyst at travel tech provider Dohop, said that searches for flights from the U.S. to Japan grew 84% on Google in the 14 days following the reopening announcement compared with the previous two weeks. “In fact, the day after the announcement was the highest day in terms of search demand, at three times the September average,” he said.

“Nearly three years of closure and the current exchange rate of the yen, being at its most favorable for Europeans in many years, are providing an extra impetus for those craving a memorable and authentic experience in one of the most mind-blowing destinations on the planet,” said Karolina Simon, head of Japanspecialist, a Europe-based part of Japan’s JTB Group. “We have been overwhelmed by strong demand.”

Japan has typically been an expensive holiday for American travelers, but with the yen at its weakest value in decades, combined with the dollar’s strength, advisors say now is the time to go.

“The yen is at the cheapest exchange rate to the dollar since the 1980s, and this is turning what was once one of the most expensive holiday destinations possible for Americans into something much more affordable,” said Lorenzo Pilastri, marketing manager at Japanspecialist. “So, understandably, demand is proving very high, with people keen to take advantage of this once-in-a-generation opportunity [and] further demand coming from the fact it has been closed for so long.”

The road to reopening

Japan’s reopening comes months after it began carefully loosening restrictions on inbound international travel earlier this year.

The first significant breakthrough came in June when Japan allowed tourists from eligible countries to visit as part of packaged, small-group tours escorted by Japanese guides and operated by companies that had government approval to create and sell tours. Japan had also raised its daily international arrival limit from 10,000 to 20,000 at the time. 

Citing uncertainty around the reopening plan’s details and eligibility, many tour operators chose to hold off on their Japan restart plans this summer, looking toward the fall and 2023 instead. On Sept. 7, the country reached another milestone: The daily arrival cap was raised to 50,000, and small-group tours no longer needed a guide but still had to make travel arrangements through a tour operator.

In late September, Japan made its long-awaited announcement.

“It’s been a long run,” Avera said. “Customers are eager to get back, when we had two years of no one traveling and us moving them around. We took a few [bookings] yesterday for our group in November, and there is a lot of excitement over April 2023 for the cherry blossom season.”

A trip finally takes off

On a recent tour of Japan with Alexander + Roberts, one of the company’s first tours to return to the country, travelers were just glad to see their vacations dreams fulfilled.

Mark and Karen Fonder, who live in Appleton, Wis., originally booked their Japan trip in the spring of 2019 for the following year, which ended up being postponed due to the pandemic.

“I was here twice in the ’90s on business, and so I never got out of Tokyo,” said Mark Fonder while on the 11-day From Japan’s Inland Sea to the Alps itinerary. “I knew I wanted to see a little bit more of the country, and I’m really glad that this is working out as it’s working out. Especially seeing a bit of the countryside; it’s touching.” 

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Visitors from overseas no longer have to quarantine for three days at a designated hotel, but their movement is limited for the first three days in Hong Kong. Visitors can take public transportation but they are banned from entering restaurants, bars and other businesses for the first three days. Visitors can order takeout or do in-room hotel dining.

Upon arrival in Hong Kong, visitors must take a PCR test and await the results after day 3. If the test is negative, there are no restrictions on entering public premises, including restaurants and bars.

Incoming travelers will no longer need a negative PCR test within 48 hours before boarding a plane to Hong Kong. Instead, they will need to present a negative Covid-19 result from a rapid antigen test conducted within 24 hours before the flight.

Visitors must be fully vaccinated for Covid-19 unless they have a valid medical certificate for exemption.

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In addition, a daily cap on the number of visitors will be eliminated. With the two moves, Japan will approach pre-pandemic tourism norms for the first time in two-and-a-half years. However, visitors still must be vaccinated to enter the country.

Japan has been gradually easing Covid-19 restrictions on travelers since June. The country currently allows tourism, but visitors must be part of a tour group and secure a visa before they travel. Daily arrivals are capped at 50,000.

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The 204-room property, which will be Andaz’s first in Thailand, will blend traditional Thai architecture with contemporary design, creating a style that Carina Chorengel, senior vice president of commercial for Asia-Pacific at Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, describes as uniquely “rich in culture.”

It’s an aesthetic made possible in part by the resort’s development site: a former private estate situated approximately a 10-minute drive from Pattaya’s more tourist-heavy hot spots. As part of the project, elements from three of the estate’s original structures have been preserved and will be incorporated into the hotel.

One of the buildings, a traditional Thai tea house, is undergoing restoration and will serve as a venue for private ceremonies, monk blessings and meditation sessions as well as host guests for afternoon tea.

The other two repurposed buildings will be integrated into expansive villa-style accommodations, including the six-bedroom Heritage House and the four-bedroom duplex Manor House. Heritage House and Manor House guests will be able to avail themselves of luxe amenities like personal butlers, private pools and outdoor decks.

The theme of preservation also extends to the resort’s natural surroundings. Many of the estate’s more mature trees, some of which date back 50 to 100 years, have been conserved during construction.

“Typically, when you have a new resort, it always takes a few years for the landscaping to kind of flourish,” said Chorengel. “But the wonderful thing about this resort is that it’s purposely being built around these trees, and we’ll have plaques to talk about each tree and its history. Each tree will tell a story.”

The Andaz Pattaya Jomtien Beach, however, is far from the only Asian expansion for the Andaz brand, which already has quite a solid footprint in the region. (Around a third of Andaz’s existing 25 outposts are located throughout Asia.)

The flag opened its first Indonesian resort, the Andaz Bali, last year, and is preparing to open its fourth property in China, the Andaz Nanjing Hexi, sometime in the second quarter of next year. Also in the pipeline is a second hotel in Thailand, which is set to open as part of a mixed-use tower development in Bangkok’s central business district in 2023. 

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Transport Minister Tetsuo Saito said the tours will be allowed from Australia, Singapore, Thailand and the U.S. as an experiment.

Participants must be triple-vaccinated and the tours must have guides and fixed itineraries, the Japan Tourism Agency said. Each tour can have a maximum of four people, and a total of 50 participants are expected to join the experiment, the government agency said.

Participants will enter Japan on a special visa, not a tourist visa, the agency said. The results will be used to compile coronavirus guidelines for tour operators, hotels and other related businesses, it said.

The experiment is expected to start sometime next week and continue until the end of May. Further details, including the duration and destination of the tours, still have to be decided, the agency said.

Japan’s tourism industry, hit hard by the strict border controls, is eager for foreign tourism to resume. Covid-19 infections have slowed in Japan since earlier this year and the government is gradually expanding social and economic activity.

After facing criticism that its strict border controls were xenophobic, Japan began easing restrictions earlier this year and currently allows entry of up to 10,000 people from abroad per day, including Japanese nationals, foreign students and some business travelers. The government is reportedly considering doubling the daily cap to 20,000 in coming weeks. Currently, foreign tourists are not allowed to enter.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said in a speech during a visit to London earlier this month that he plans to ease the border controls as early as June in line with the policies of other Group of Seven industrialized countries, but gave no further details.

Foreign tourist arrivals fell more than 90% in 2020 from a record 31.9 million the year before, almost wiping out the pre-pandemic inbound tourism market of more than $31 billion. 

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The country has long been renowned for its breathtaking scenery and adventure tourism offerings such as bungy jumping and skiing. Before the spread of Covid-19, more than 3 million tourists visited each year, accounting for 20% of New Zealand’s foreign income and more than 5% of the overall economy.

But international tourism stopped altogether in early 2020 after New Zealand imposed some of the world’s toughest border restrictions.

The border rules remained in place as the government at first pursued an elimination strategy and then tried to tightly control the spread of the virus. The spread of omicron and vaccinations of more than 80% of New Zealand’s 5 million population prompted the gradual easing of restrictions.

New Zealand reopened to tourists from Australia three weeks ago and on Monday to about 60 visa-waiver countries, including much of Europe. Most tourists from India, China and other non-waiver countries are still not allowed to enter.

Tourists will need to be vaccinated and to test themselves for the virus before and after arriving.

“Today is a day to celebrate, and is a big moment in our reconnection with the world,” said Tourism Minister Stuart Nash.

At Auckland Airport, flights bringing in tourists began landing from early in the morning, coming in direct from places including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Kuala Lumpur, and Singapore.

The border reopening will help boost tourism ahead of New Zealand’s upcoming ski season. But the real test of how much the tourism industry rebounds will come in December, when the peak summer season begins in the Southern Hemisphere nation.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said more than 90,000 people had booked flights to New Zealand in the seven weeks since the reopening was announced and 21 international flights were scheduled to land Monday in Auckland.

“Our tourism industry have felt the effects of the global pandemic acutely, and are working hard to prepare,” she said.

Ardern said there were no immediate plans to ease virus testing and vaccination requirements for tourists. 

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The 175-room property is located in Bali’s Kuta district, on the southern end of the island. 

Accommodations feature platform beds, walk-in rainfall showerheads, private balconies and mobile key access.

In addition to a Re:mix lounge area adjacent to the lobby, the Aloft Bali Kuta offers several F&B options, including all-day dining restaurant Depot by Aloft, a W XYZ bar and a Re:fuel by Aloft 24/7 grab-and-go station.

Other amenities include a 24/7 fitness center and a pool.

The Aloft Bali Kuta marks Marriott International’s 25th property in Bali.

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