SOUTHEAST ASIA. New data from travel analyst ForwardKeys confirms that Southeast Asia continues to lag behind the rest of the world in its tourism recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. However, there is recovery in travel to certain countries in the region, with visitors from the US coming back in substantially greater numbers than from other source markets.
In the first five months of the year (1 January-31 May) travel to Southeast Asia reached just 18% of pre-pandemic 2019 levels, whereas travel to Europe reached 55%, to the Americas 66% and to the Middle East & Africa 64%.
Summer flight bookings (1 June-31 August) to Southeast Asia are at just 43% of pre-pandemic levels. This is significantly behind other regions, with Europe at 70%, the Americas at 78% and Middle East & Africa at 85%.
Analysis of long-haul flight bookings to Southeast Asia this summer reveals that travel from the US is set to reach 75% of where it was in 2019, ahead of the COVID-19 outbreak.
The next biggest source market is Australia, where bookings are at 60% of 2019 levels. This market is followed by Germany at 58%, France at 57% and the UK at 47%.
The most popular destinations for US visitors are the Philippines, Singapore and Indonesia. The generally affluent profile of US tourists is emphasised by the fact that 17% of them will fly to Southeast Asia this summer in classes above economy. The equivalent figure in 2019 was 9%.
The Southeast Asia destinations which are recovering most strongly for summer flight bookings are the Philippines (70% of pre-pandemic levels), Singapore (58%), Indonesia (41%) Thailand (35%) and Vietnam (32%).
ForwardKeys observed that travel to the Philippines is dominated by people returning to visit friends and relatives, whereas travel to other destinations is more for work and leisure purposes.
Throughout the pandemic, airlines flying to Southeast Asia have provided more than enough seat capacity to accommodate passenger demand, the travel data analyst noted. However, in May 2022, ForwardKeys revealed that the acceleration in demand started to outstrip capacity, which has been creating an upward pressure on air fares.
ForwardKeys VP Insights Olivier Ponti said: “Travel during the pandemic has been a function of pent-up demand pushing in one direction and pandemic protection rules pushing back in the opposite direction. The recovery of air travel in Southeast Asia is lagging because travel restrictions there have been tougher.”
He added: “China, which used to be Southeast Asia’s largest source market, is still effectively closed. Japan, another major market for travel, is reopening very cautiously and seat capacity, which is constrained, is leading to higher air fares, which in turn dampens demand.”
