TOURISM in the Asia-Pacific region is expected to rebound to pre-pandemic level by 2024, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said in a report today.

The Asian Economic Integration Report 2023 said international tourist arrivals in the Asia-Pacific region rose by 399% year-on-year in the first eight months of 2022, but only to 10.3% of 2019 numbers, Xinhua reports.

“The variation is largely driven by differences in the pace of border reopening, public health protocols, and people’s confidence in overseas travel,” it said.

The report said that the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict continued to pose a downside risk to Asian tourism, a potential loss of about one-third of Russia’s outbound tourists.

“Higher fuel prices translating to higher airfares and travel expenses, alongside weak global growth prospects, are dampening the recovery momentum.”

For post-pandemic recovery, the report said economies in the region need to look at policy options to build sustainability and resilience while addressing pre-pandemic challenges, such as narrow source markets, lack of infrastructure, and high informality.

“Greater regional cooperation is needed to deal with the prolonged challenges.” – February 7, 2023.