Asia's tourist hotspots prepare for boom as China relaxes COVID-19 rules - CNA

BANGKOK/SINGAPORE/SYDNEY: Asian countries are bracing for an influx of Chinese tourists as COVID-19 restrictions are dismantled, and while some are wary, operators in others are preparing packages such as hotpot buffets to cash in on the expected spike in travel.

Chinese tourists will no longer need to quarantine on return home starting Jan 8, the government announced this week, a move that spurred a surge in bookings from what was the world's largest outbound travel market in 2019.

The once US$255 billion a year in global spending by Chinese tourists ground to a virtual halt during the pandemic, leaving a gaping hole in the Asian market, where countries from Thailand to Japan had depended on China as the largest source of foreign visitors.

International flights to and from China are at just 8 per cent of pre-pandemic levels, VariFlight data shows, but carriers are looking to ramp up capacity as authorities ease COVID-driven limits on the number of flights.

"There is little doubt mainland Chinese are the spark plug for Thailand's tourism recovery," said Bill Barnett, managing director of hospitality consultancy C9 Hotelworks. "It's not a question of if it will happen, it's now just a matter of how many and how fast."

Malaysia Airlines and Vietnamese budget carrier VietJet Aviation said they hope to restore China flights to pre-pandemic levels by June 2023, while others such as Singapore Airlines and Australia's Qantas Airways declined to provide detailed targets as the situation evolves.

Chinese airlines are likely to make significant increases to capacity from the end of March, coinciding with the start of the summer scheduling season, Morningstar analyst Cheng Weng told clients in a note.

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2022-12-29 06:42:00Z
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Soaring China COVID-19 cases increase risk of new variants: Experts - CNA

VARIANT "SOUP"

Xu Wenbo, head of the virus control institute at China's Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, said last week that hospitals across the country would collect samples from patients and upload the sequencing information to a new national database, allowing authorities to monitor possible new strains in real-time.

More than 130 Omicron sublineages have been newly detected in China over the last three months, he told journalists.

Among those were XXB and BQ.1 and their sublineages, which have been spreading in the US and parts of Europe in recent months as a swarm of subvariants has competed for dominance worldwide.

However BA.5.2 and BF.7 remain the main Omicron strains detected in China, Xu said, adding that the varying sublineages would likely circulate together.

Flahault said "a soup" of more than 500 new Omicron subvariants had been identified in recent months, although it had often been difficult to tell where each had first emerged.

"Any variants, when more transmissible than the previous dominant ones - such as BQ.1, B2.75.2, XBB, CH.1, or BF.7 - definitely represent threats, since they can cause new waves," he said.

"However, none of these known variants seems to exhibit any particular new risks of more severe symptoms to our knowledge, although that might happen with new variants in the coming future."

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2022-12-29 03:58:41Z
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No change in Singapore's Covid-19 measures for travellers from China - The Straits Times

SINGAPORE - Singapore will keep its prevailing Covid-19 rules in place for incoming travellers from China, which plans to reopen its borders from Jan 8, 2023.

Travellers who are not fully vaccinated, based on the World Health Organisation’s definition, will need to undergo pre-departure tests before they can enter the Republic, said Singapore’s Ministry of Health (MOH) on Wednesday in response to media queries.

Short-term visitors are also required to purchase insurance for Covid-19-related medical expenses.

The prevailing border measures and vaccination requirements for travellers and work pass holders arriving from China remain unchanged.

MOH said it is closely monitoring the international Covid-19 situation and will adjust its border health measures, should the need arise.

This comes as other countries are implementing or considering measures to test or restrict travellers from China, as the country abandons its zero-Covid policy and reopens borders.

For instance, the United States is considering new coronavirus precautions for people travelling from China. Japan, too, moved quickly, requiring negative Covid-19 test results upon arrival for visitors who have been in mainland China within a seven-day period, while those who test positive will have to quarantine for a week.

The Philippines and Italy joined the call for Covid-19 measures, including testing for inbound travellers from China. Taiwan may also adjust its measures, such as testing, as it anticipates tens of thousands of people returning from the Chinese mainland for Chinese New Year in January. While Taiwan currently does not allow mainland Chinese tourists to enter, many Taiwanese work and invest in the mainland.

These concerns come amid uncertainty over the true scale of China’s Covid-19 infections, as the lack of reliable official figures is fuelling concern that the rapid spread of the virus could lead to the emergence of new variants.

China is experiencing the world’s largest Covid-19 outbreak, raising concerns among public health officials worldwide. Almost 37 million people may have been infected with the virus on a single day last week, according to estimates from the government’s top health authority.

Holiday bookings for outbound flights from mainland China jumped 254 per cent on Tuesday morning from the day before, according to Trip.com Group data, underscoring how the country’s vast population is ready and hungry for travel.

The top five destinations that saw a spike in interest from China were Singapore, with a 600 per cent increase in bookings, followed by about 400 per cent for South Korea, Hong Kong, Japan and Thailand.

China currently imposes restrictions on outbound travel, as one needs valid reasons, such as education and business, to leave the country. 

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2022-12-28 15:40:33Z
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No change in Singapore's Covid-19 measures for travellers from China - The Straits Times

SINGAPORE - Singapore is maintaining its prevailing Covid-19 rules for incoming travellers from China as the country prepares to reopen its borders from Jan 8, 2023.

Travellers who are not fully vaccinated, based on the World Health Organisation’s definition, will need to undergo pre-departure tests, said Singapore’s Ministry of Health (MOH) on Wednesday in response to media queries.

Short-term visitors are also required to purchase insurance for Covid-19-related medical expenses.

At this juncture, the prevailing border measures and vaccination requirements for travellers and work pass holders arriving from China remain unchanged, MOH added.

MOH said it is closely monitoring the international Covid-19 situation and will adjust its border health measures as appropriate should the need arise.

China currently imposes restrictions on outbound travel, as one needs valid reasons, such as education and business, to leave the country.

In a snap move late on Monday, China said that from Jan 8, 2023, inbound travellers would no longer be required to quarantine upon arrival, in a further unwinding of stringent Covid-19 controls that had torpedoed its economy and sparked nationwide protests.

China will also resume issuing visas for mainland residents to travel overseas from Jan 8, 2023, loosening the country’s zero-Covid regime and ending almost three years of strict quarantine rules.

Unlike most of the world where people have transitioned to living with the pandemic, China had until recently maintained harsh restrictions and largely sealed itself off.

These strict measures heavily disrupted international tourism and business travel, further hampering the country’s battered economy.

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2022-12-28 10:43:41Z
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China Reopening Borders Leads Other Countries to Restrict Entry - Bloomberg

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1. China Reopening Borders Leads Other Countries to Restrict Entry  Bloomberg
2. US weighs new COVID-19 rules for travellers from China, US officials say  CNA
3. China's Covid-19 surge leads countries to consider entry restrictions  The Straits Times
4. Philippine Transport Chief Favors Curbs for Chinese Visitors  Bloomberg
5. China Covid pivot sparks jitters worldwide  Bangkok Post
6. View Full coverage on Google News

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2022-12-28 08:43:24Z
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Hong Kong scraps most COVID-19 rules, though masks still mandated - CNA

HONG KONG: Hong Kong will cancel its stringent COVID-19 rules from Thursday (Dec 29), city leader John Lee said, meaning that arrivals will no longer need to do mandatory PCR tests while the city's vaccine pass would also be scrapped.

All measures would be cancelled on Thursday, apart from the wearing of masks which still remains compulsory, Lee told a media briefing on Wednesday.

"The city has reached a relatively high vaccination rate which builds an anti-epidemic barrier," Lee said.

"Hong Kong has a sufficient amount of medicine to fight COVID-19, and healthcare workers have gained rich experience in facing the pandemic," he added.

Lee said his government is aiming to reopen the borders with mainland China by Jan 15 and was working with authorities over the border to ensure an orderly re-opening.

He said the authorities have been preparing for the scrapping of all restrictions.

"The time is appropriate for us to do this, having prepared for six months to do this," said Lee. "The whole society is preparing for this. We are doing all this according to our local epidemic situation."

Hong Kong's vaccine pass requirement, which was imposed in February and was a must for people to access most venues in Hong Kong, will end from Thursday. Social distancing rules such as a cap on gatherings of more than 12 people in public will also be scrapped from Thursday.

The city has for nearly three years largely followed China's lead in tackling the novel coronavirus, with both places being the last strongholds in adopting a zero-COVID policy.

The removal of the curbs are likely to result in an increase of travellers to the former British colony who have previously shunned it due to strict restrictions.

In an abrupt change of policy, China this month began dismantling the world's strictest COVID-19 regime of lockdowns and extensive testing. The country will stop requiring inbound travellers to go into quarantine from Jan 8, authorities said this week.

Restrictions on travel between Hong Kong and the mainland were imposed in early 2020. The reopening was postponed several times due to outbreaks in Hong Kong or the mainland.

International passengers arriving in Hong Kong since mid-month are no longer subject to COVID-related movement controls or barred from certain venues, the government announced in December.

Business groups, diplomats and many residents had slammed Hong Kong's COVID-19 rules, saying they threatened its competitiveness and standing as an international financial centre.

The rules have weighed on Hong Kong's economy since early 2020, speeding up an exodus of businesses, expatriates and local families that have left amid a drive by Beijing to more closely control the former British colony.

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2022-12-28 06:16:00Z
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As China lifts COVID-19 curbs, people should refrain from traveling unless 'absolutely necessary': Expert - CNA

He noted that there is already an uptick in vaccine tourism observed, with people travelling from China to Macau to get vaccinations that are unavailable in the mainland.

“As quarantine restrictions ease, I’m sure there will be people traveling elsewhere to try to get western mRNA vaccines,” he said.

Dr Hsu said a key step would be vaccinating as many people within China, including getting booster jabs to the elderly and vulnerable groups.

CHINA COPING WITH CASES

China's national health commission has stopped publishing daily COVID-19 data, and also narrowed its definition for reporting COVID-19 deaths, counting only those from COVID-caused pneumonia or respiratory failure.

Despite the lack of such data, Dr Hsu said there will still be reports on how the hospitals in the country are coping. Currently, the hospitals are overwhelmed.

“This has happened everywhere around the world, including in Singapore. You may remember during our Delta wave, there was an issue with the bed crunch as well,” he noted.

“China is trying to ramp up the number of hospital beds available, not just within hospitals, but in outside facilities. And there will be a need to triage patients based on how critical their illness condition is, in terms of who gets the bed space and who gets the ICU.”

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2022-12-27 10:51:00Z
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