China ban on inbound, outbound tour groups continues
The Chinese government will keep the current ban on inbound and outbound tour groups amid fears that the winter months could bring a resurgence of COVID-19. After several months with very low case numbers, officials are wary of the virus surging this winter. The ban on outbound tours is severely impacting places like Thailand, where former tourist hotspots are already suffering devastating economic consequences from the closure of the country’s borders in late March. Earlier this week, Thailand welcomed its first group of Chinese tourists in seven months, but the Kingdom has a long way to go to get back to the 10.99 million Chinese who visited last year.
Expedia provides access to millions of traveler ratings
The Expedia Group arm Expedia Partner Solutions (EPS) will provide Expedia partners access to tens of millions of traveler reviews and ratings, in an effort to boost consumer confidence during the COVID-19 pandemic. For the first time, EPS partners, including online travel agents, business travel and retail brands, can access over 75 million traveler ratings and 58 million textual reviews from across Expedia Group and share them with travelers. Expedia Group research shows that access to transparent health and safety content is leading to more bookings, with properties seeing 10% more net room nights when traveler reviews show how the property deals with Coronavirus mitigation.
Jakarta tourism ministry to start disbursing relief
The Jakarta Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry plans to start disbursing Rp 3.3 trillion (US$224 million) in relief grants to 101 selected cities and regencies in November, an official has said. The grant is intended to help recover the coronavirus-battered tourist industry. Some 70% of the grants would be disbursed to individual businesses, while the remaining 30% would be given to local administrations, according to the ministry’s crisis management expert, Hengky Manurung. The eligibility of hotels and restaurants would be determined according to 2019 hotel and restaurant tax data.
Asia Pacific markets show continued recovery
The Asia Pacific hotel industry has reported continued performance improvement from COVID-19 low points, thanks to strong domestic demand and holidays, according to STR’s Jesper Palmqvist, area director for the region. In September, 70% or better occupancy levels were registered in key China markets such as Sanya, Shenzhen, Chengdu and Xian. Those markets are showing year-over-year growth in the metric, which is not common for most of the world right now, Palmqvist said. On October 3, during the extended Golden Week period as National Day coincided with Mid-Autumn Festival (October 1-8), the market posted 83% occupancy, almost reaching 2019 levels. During Silver Week (September 19-22), domestic travel helped Japan register its highest occupancy level on September 23 (67%). While both Australia and New Zealand also continues to improve, New Zealand occupancy is just 25% behind 2019 levels. Resort locations in Vietnam have posted weekend occupancy as high as 40%. Weekdays in South Korea are still showing low occupancy levels (20%-25%) compared to weekends (60%) in the market. In Hong Kong, occupancy during weekends reached up to 55%; weekdays rose to 40%.