Asia Travel Recovery - How, what, when?
Asia recovery continues to be watched very closely by the rest of the world. For carriers in the region, strict and enduring travel restrictions (notably in China), along with an uneven vaccine rollout, have seen the region lag in the recovery to date. As the restrictions diminish, travel demand is expected to increase quickly.
China was the world’s largest outbound travel market in 2019, accounting for around 1 in every five dollars spend globally. However, the country’s near zero tolerance approach to COVID has proven a significant obstacle to a resumption in inbound and outbound travel, and Chinese nationals have indicated a strong preference for travel only to destinations where there is a very low risk of COVID transmission. Australasia – particularly the South Pacific island states – will depend on a recovery in Chinese outbound travel if there is to be any hope of a proper recovery for their tourism markets.
In this session, we further understand the recovery in Asia, how airlines are performing and what opportunities exist for attracting airlines and tourism to the South Pacific.
Moderator: Aviation Week, Senior Air Transport Editor - Asia-Pacific, Adrian Schofield
Panel:
- Japan Airlines, VP Asia Oceania Region, Strategy Research, Akihide Yoguchi
- PNG Air, CCO, Simon Pitt
- CAPA - Centre for Aviation, Head of Research, Simon Elsegood