Tourism is booming in the US and Europe. But in Asia, many destinations are struggling to revive

HYen worked hard to become a tour guide for Cambodia's famous Angkor Wat temples. The 43-year-old has successfully passed his license exam to guide Spanish-speaking tourists around the famous monuments of Siem Reap after three tries.

When the COVID-19 pandemic put the brakes on his 2020 tourism business, Yen took refuge in his hometown of Kampong Cham Province, five hours away by car, where he is now a teacher. I work as However, he still dreams of returning to his job as a guide.

"I reach out to friends who live in Siem Reap every day to ask about tourism," Yen says. "He says it's still not going well. Now tourists are limited and different than before."

Before the coronavirus outbreak, Angkor Wat was the busiest in the world He was one of the sights I did. Thousands of travelers from all over the world arrived each day before dawn, flocking to find the place across the small pond from the main temple. So they tried to photograph the sunrise in an atmosphere resembling a mosh pit.

It's a whole different thing these days. The Southeast Asian country hopes to welcome million international visitors this year. This is a significant increase from the modest number of visitors we welcomed in 2021, but a significant drop from 7 million in 2019.

Tourists push through the crowds to take selfies at Rome's Trevi Fountain, Many of Asia Pacific's once-crowded attractions, like Angkor Wat on the Las Vegas Strip, remain eerily quiet.

In June, the white sands of Boracay Island, the most popular island in the Philippine archipelago, were largely devoid of foreignersEarlier this monthPhi Phi Island tourist boat operators47} 47} — The islands of Thailand, made world-famous in the Hollywood movie The Beach (2000), complain that visitor numbers are “less than half” of pre-pandemic levels. In nearby Phuket, which was leaked, guides and drivers in Bangkok, Thailand's capital, told TIME they had no income for more than two years.

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Hong Kong, two and a half hours away from her by plane, is the iconic Star Ferry, once described as "the most exciting ferry ride" in the world. is of concern.”—could be bust due to lack of passengers. Japan, which welcomed more than 30 million tourists in 2019, received 1,500 leisure travelers between June and July, but typically is the peak travel season. In April,Palaudive instructors and hotel staff told TIME that tourists, who accounted for nearly 50% of the pristine Pacific nation's GDP before the pandemic, are still returning in meaningful numbers. He said he hadn't come.

Uneven recovery in Asian tourism

According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization, international tourists arriving in the Asia-Pacific By 2019,was 90% below its 2019 level of, making it the worst performing region in the world. Many experts predict that we will continue to fall behind.

Domestic and international traffic within the Asia-Pacific region is expected to reach only 68% of the 2019 figure this year. According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), travel is not projected to reach pre-pandemic levels until 2025. This is one year behind the rest of the world.Some destinations may take longer to rebound. India's tourism will not fully recover until 2026, according to the National Council for Applied Economic Research (NCAER)report.

Asia's slow recovery is due to gradual opening of markets, gradual recovery of routes and transport capacity, and ongoing COVID-induced restrictions complicating travel to the region Liz says it's due to a myriad of factors, including the "consumer misconception" that Ortigera, CEO of Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA).

But it is undeniable that the Asian pandemic her rule could spoil the holiday mood. Bhutan will not accept tourists until September. Singapore continues to require masks to be worn indoors. Vietnam mandates masks in public places and, like Hong Kong, requires his three-day self-funded hotel quarantine for all arrivals, followed by several days at home of medical surveillance is required. The latter includes temperature checks twice a day, uploading her RAT test results daily to a government website, and performing her PCR tests three times in her five days.

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Japan now requires tourists to join organized tours. For Kyoto tour guide and taxi driver Hiroshi Yano , who relies on government subsidies to transport locals rather than tourists, it has been difficult to make ends meet during the pandemic. Millions of tourists flocked to Kyoto every year, roaming from temple to temple to take pictures in rented kimonos. "Not just me, but other small businesses such as small hotels and restaurants are still suffering," he told TIME.

The lack of Chinese tourists is a particular problem for the region. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit's Travel Readiness Index for 2022, her 13 countries in Asia rely on China as the largest source of visitors, while her six other economies was her second largest source. As they return home with the virus, Beijing restricts "unnecessary" international travel as part of draconian pandemic measuresrecently thousands Even on the resort island of Hainan, where thousands of domestic travelers are stranded in China, many will be reluctant to risk traveling within China after the outbreak of COVID.

Some destinations are doing better than others. The Maldives, which receives the majority of tourists from neighboring India, is one of the places that is recovering rapidly. Stephen Schipani, Chief Tourism Specialist at the Asian Development Bank, said the number of international tourists in the Maldives has increased, thanks to a rapid vaccination campaign, good air connections with large source markets and streamlined immigration requirements. It said arrivals are now approaching pre-pandemic levels.

Meanwhile, his June arrivals to Fiji were 73% of his pre-pandemic same month. Padang in Bali Despite COVID restrictions remaining in Indonesia, Andrew Roberts, who owns Padang his surf his camp, said in time that the island's world-class rest stop He says he sees a constant stream of tourists returning to surf in the area. Like the towering waves of Uluwatu. Camp accommodations have been at pre-pandemic occupancy levels for several weeks now.

Traveling in the Asia-Pacific region is "a sleeping dragon that wakes up in phases," says Ortiguerra. “Right now, the recovery is very uneven, but domestic tourism is developing, travelers are being drawn from new source markets, and lesser-known destinations are being promoted.”

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She This is a pivotal time to transition to a healthier and more sustainable travel industry. In fact, many see this moment as an opportunity to end overtourism.

"Overreliance on international tourism and the need to diversify the economy in some Asia-Pacific countries was a problem even before the pandemic," Schipani said. . “Many countries are now doubling down on their efforts to diversify their economies.

But frontline tourism players are hopeful of a speedy recovery. Yen, who is in Cambodia, plans to return to Angkor Her Wat as soon as possible to work as a tour guide. “I can make more money as a tour guide than as a teacher,” he says. "You can meet a lot of people from all over the world and have new experiences."

In Hong Kong, 32-year-old Carrie Poon misses her old life. Before the pandemic, she took mostly American and European visitors to off the beaten track to sample local delicacies such as Fish Her Balls and Rice Her Rolls. I was. But when Hong Kong closed its borders, she lost her income and decided to open her small restaurant.

"I loved tour guide [life]," she says. "If I had the choice, I would choose a job as a tour guide, but that is what you can do." }

Amy To Gunia amy. gunia@time. Write to