While the majority of the Asia Pacific is fully open for inbound travellers and on its way to recovery, Greater China still requires quarantine and self-isolation to inbound travellers.

Korea

Reopening its border to foreign visitors in April 2022, Korea starts to see the return of travellers after two years of closed borders. In July, Korea welcomed around 264,000 foreign visitors to the country, recording a 16% month-on-month growth.

To attract more visitors to Korea, the government introduced visa waivers for designated countries and regions, including Taiwan, Macau and Japan in August, and the effective time has been extended to October as the policy almost doubled the number of visitors from these regions compared with the previous month.

Malaysia

After five months of reopening to international travellers, Malaysia is seeing the rapid recovery of tourism in the nation. During January to July, Malaysia recorded more than 3.21 million tourist arrivals with a total revenue of RM 9.35 billion. The Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture of Malaysia also adjusted the target of tourist arrivals in 2022 to 9.2 million with tourism receipts of RM 26.8 billion, as the initial target has been achieved.

The authority also aims to boost domestic tourism with more stimulus packages under the Accommodation Cluster of Tourism Recovery Plan 2022 (PRE2.0). Eligible Malaysians would be able to redeem free vouchers for a discount on accommodation in the country, which is expected to facilitate the recovery of the Malaysian tourism industry.
Thailand

Having recorded over 40 million visitor arrivals in 2019, Thailand is seeing the return of travellers after lifting of travel restrictions. It is reported that more than 4 million visitor arrivals were recorded in the first eight months of 2022, and the government projects a total of 7.5 million visitor arrivals in the second half of 2022. This would mark a target of 10 million travellers in 2022 – approximately 25% of the pre-COVID figures.

Other key indicators, such as tourism receipts, are also showing signs of recovery. The government expects to earn 400 million baht from tourist spending in the second half, and investors in the tourism business are slowly returning to Thailand, both local and overseas investors. Additionally, the government extends the period of visa-on-arrival in order to attract more travellers.

Reopening Status in Asia Pacific

While the majority of the Asia Pacific is fully open for inbound travellers and on its way to recovery, Greater China still requires quarantine and self-isolation to inbound travellers, ranging from 7 to 10 days. Additionally, Japan is just slowly reopening, and it is expected to fully reopen to travellers in October this year.

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