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Asia Pacific is home to some of the world's best-loved travel destinations, from the natural beauty of Bali to the urban bustle of Singapore. These dream vacation spots, combined with the region's business power, have secured Asia Pacific the title of the world's largest tourism region for much of the last decade.
But with destinations like China and Japan comparatively slow to lift Covid entry restrictions, air travel in Asia Pacific remains low compared to the region's pre-pandemic levels.
And a new report from international travel industry analysts the Center for Aviation (CAPA) predicts that Asia Pacific will no longer be the world's largest travel region by the end of 2022, ceding the title to Europe.
Where Asia Pacific air traffic once accounted for more than a third of all global passenger travel, aviation in the region remains down 45% compared to pre-pandemic levels, according to CAPA.
Meanwhile, CAPA suggests that European air travel has recovered to about 85% of pre-pandemic levels, even taking into account the continued impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
In 2019, 3.38 billion passengers transited through Asia Pacific airports. By contrast, CAPA reports that current predictions from ACI Asia-Pacific – an industry organization representing the region's airports – suggest that 1.84 billion passengers will have passed through Asia Pacific travel hubs by the end of 2022.
A key factor in this slow recovery is China's “Zero Covid” border policy and Japan's slow easing of travel restrictions, at least according to ACI Asia-Pacific and CAPA. Japan will officially reopen to tourists on October 11.
“What happens there has a huge impact on the rest of the region,” CAPA says of China and Japan, noting that they are two of the region's largest travel markets.
CAPA reports that most travel to Asia Pacific destinations remains 50% or more below 2019 levels, with just a couple of exceptions, such as India, which is just 11% below its figure. 2019.
Domestic travel in Asia Pacific is recovering faster than international travel, CAPA notes: domestic travel within China, for example, is only down 5.4% compared to 2019 levels.
All in all, CAPA predicts that Asia Pacific will not see a full return to pre-pandemic travel numbers until late 2023 or early 2024.
“Even then, recovery depends on countries opening their borders and ending persistent travel restrictions, as well as the broader economic and epidemiological situation,” the report reads.
CAPA advocates for a “harmonization of international travel rules” and “political commitments towards openness and freedom of movement”, as well as a continued vaccination campaign, to help travel recover.
