Agoda Leads an Asia Experiment in Quarantine Hotel Bookings
Photo Credit: Quarantine at Movenpick BDMS Wellness Resort Bangkok: Safe and bearable. BDMS Wellness Resort Bangkok
Skift Take
The industry blames quarantines for keeping tourists away. Agoda is on a quest to make it a solution, not the problem, to revive international travel to Asia. Here's why and how.
As Asia wrestles with the double whammy of Covid-19 flare-ups and slow vaccine rollouts, quarantine-free travel in much of the region is an elusive prospect.
India, Thailand, Japan, and the Philippines are wrangling with new surges and faster-spreading variants. It is now doubtful if Thailand will lift quarantine for vaccinated tourists as planned from July 1.
With Asia accounting for about 70 percent of travelers for most Asian countries, there will be quarantines unless vaccination leapfrogs rather than snails along. The best the Asian industry can hope for are shorter quarantines if situations improved, while quarantine-free will remain exceptions.
So far, the Maldives is the only Asian destination that does not quarantine tourists, while Australia-New Zealand the only quarantine-free travel corridor between two countries in the region. A second, between Singapore and Hong Kong, will start on May 26, the cities announced today (April 26).
Agoda’s CEO John Brown believ
