Home to popular destinations such as Bali, Phuket and Singapore, the tourism sector in
Southeast Asia is in survival mode.
Even as travel picks up in Europe in the form of air bridges between key cities, many countries
in Asia are slow to reopen their borders, despite recovering faster from the pandemic.
So what does this mean for the tourism sector in Southeast Asia?
For months, governments in Southeast Asia have proposed forming bubbles for leisure travel.
However, this has largely failed to materialize, denting hopes of a quick recovery for the battered tourism industry.
In 2019, 136 million visitors to Southeast Asia contributed more than $380 billion
to the region’s combined GDP.
With international air travel not expected to recover until 2024, tourism authorities
and the hospitality industry in Southeast Asia are banding together to tide through the crisis.
The resort island of Phuket is key to Thailand’s plans to revive its tourism industry.
Hotels on the island need to be running, generally speaking, at around 30% occupancy to break even.
The majority of them that have chosen to open before now, I don’t think are running those numbers.
So the international customer is really required for us to be able to sustain.
Until recently, a pilot scheme would have allowed healthy foreign tourists to travel
around Thailand after a 14-day quarantine and three-week stay in Phuket.
Those plans were delayed after the kingdom recorded a new infection in September,
breaking a 100-day virus-free streak.
Hoteliers such as Andrew are torn between balancing public health and economic health.
There was also some concern in the local community that if we were going to be a test bubble
for the country, was the location ready?
What does that mean to be a test bubble and have international guests coming in,
staying in hotels in a quarantine situation?
I think what we have to do in the industry, if we focus on Phuket, is give confidence
that the hotels are ready to handle the borders opening.
It is fast-changing though, but we just have to be quite fluid and flexible at a time like now.
In 2019, some 40 million visitors spent $62 billion in the Kingdom.
With no tourist arrivals in the country since March 25, Thailand’s GDP may shrink by 9% in a moderate scenario.
Besides housing long-stay travelers in Phuket, a similar model is being considered in the
country's capital of Bangkok, says Tanes Petsuwan, the Deputy Governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand.
We are not closing the country, but we’ll just make sure that some channels that tourists
can access to the country will be done in the safest ways.
Despite delays in forming travel bubbles with neighboring countries, the plan is still very much alive, Tanes added.
We still believe in the standards of the public health services of Southeast Asian countries,
the performance of these countries to prevent the pandemic.
So, Singapore is one of the countries which we will keep our eyes open.
One day, we’re going to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
With the pandemic largely under control in parts of Southeast Asia, commercial flights
between safe zones have resumed in the form of “air bubbles,” starting with business travelers.
While this calibrated approach may not account for much, it is the first step in shoring up
economies in Southeast Asia before the easing of more travel restrictions.
Besides creating “green lanes” for some business travelers, Singapore has also introduced
a short-term travel scheme for visitors from a growing number of countries
such as New Zealand and Vietnam.
However, it remains to be seen if this will encourage more leisure travelers to Singapore.
In the first three weeks after the scheme was launched, only 136 short-term travelers
from two countries visited the city-state.
Whether it's a green lane or an air travel bubble, these are all signs of confidence,
between two countries or two destinations.
The situation in several other countries and regions around the world is indeed improving.
But ultimately, we have to watch carefully to make sure that there aren't any second wave, third wave infections as well.
So we will proceed cautiously.
Meanwhile, Singapore is pushing for its hospitality industry to accelerate its digitalization efforts.
Now is the time to deepen and build new skills in digitalization, contactless, virtual reality capabilities.
Now is the time to think of how to create more new products, new experiences
that will be interesting to the visitors of the future.
And the great thing is that they can test-bed it on Singaporeans through our domestic tourism campaign.
Businesses are also using this period to accelerate their digital solutions.
I’m meeting TY Suen, the founder of a tour group providing both virtual and private tours,
to find out how they’re doing business during this time.
We never ever thought of doing something virtual because we always thought that tours and travel
was meant to be a very physical thing.
Virtual tours could include people who don’t really have the privilege to travel.
We see a lot of expansion that can be done.
Right now, where we are, at this location, is what we call One-North.
And it’s this place called the LaunchPad, where it's dubbed as the Silicon Valley of Singapore.
Virtual tours allow us to go into places that were never meant for tourism.
As more venues implement a slew of safety measures such as contactless check-in systems
and contact tracing, will inconvenience and cost deter guests?
Hospitality by nature has been very traditional, guest experience-focused.
So any technology that we add has to tremendously improve the guest experience.
But with COVID, going contactless or digital check-in has become a little bit more important, or mandatory.
So we've democratized this experience by making it easier and also simpler for the hotels to buy and implement.
Imagine you are traveling.
You could just take a photo of your passport or a photo ID, and then a selfie.
So we use computer vision and AI to automatically set up a guest registration card digitally.
What is happening in the background is, we send this data securely, kind of like internet banking,
to a hotel, so that the whole check-in is completed, even before the guest arrives at the property.
To access my room, I just have to tap the room key and access the sensor.
Voila.
We do not pass on any cost to a hotel guest.
This is no longer a VIP-only exclusive feature.
This is something people not just want but they need.
Despite the measured approaches in reopening borders in Southeast Asia, the different rates
of infection among countries mean that plans for a “one-size-fits-all” approach,
such as a regional travel bubble, has been put on hold.
Vietnam, which has largely contained the virus and resumed some international flights,
has also proposed forming smaller "travel bubbles” to tourist hotspots within the region.
In neighboring Cambodia, authorities have implemented a $3,000 healthcare and funeral deposit
for all foreigners.
Whereas the resort island of Bali, which experienced a spike in infections after welcoming domestic tourists,
will be closed to foreign visitors until the end of 2020.
Slowly but surely, Southeast Asian countries are easing their travel restrictions, allowing
essential business and official travelers within their borders.
However, these moves may be too little, too late, for the tourist hotspots.
Until travel bubbles or safe zones can be established, the landscapes in Phuket or Bali
may be different at the end of the pandemic.
Hey, guys. So when do you think tourism will pick up in your country?
We'd love to hear from you.
In the meantime, thanks for watching, don't forget to subscribe and stay safe, everyone.