Tough Times Offer Asia Tourism Opportunity to Reassess
Skift Take
The coronavirus ban has plunged Asia tourism into a challenging period, but the outlook needs not be bleak if industry players take the opportunity to reduce their reliance on a single market.
The coronavirus crisis has sent Asia tourism into a tailspin. Not only have major airlines halted services to China, more countries are closing their doors entirely to travelers from China.
Ripple effects of the coronavirus are now spreading across all business sectors, a reflection of the outsize influence China has on global trade and tourism. When Asia was ravaged by the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2003, the Chinese travel boom was just beginning and the risks of an over-reliance on China as a visitor source market had yet to become apparent.
Fast forward to 2020, many tourism industry stakeholders in Asia have come to the realization that overexposure to China, or any other single market, is unhealthy. The coronavirus outbreak is just the latest, if not most painful, reminder for destinations to adopt a diverse market strategy, if they haven’t already done so.
South Asia, meanwhile, has often been overshadowed as a travel destinati
