Asian Hotels Begin to See Chinese Tourists Returning
Skift Take
- UNWTO’s forward-looking scenarios for 2023 suggests global international tourist arrivals could reach 80%-95% of pre-pandemic levels this year.
- Cambodia is expecting to receive up to four million international tourists this year, accelerated by China announcing its reopening policy. 2022 brought some 2.28 million international tourists to Cambodia with China making up only 106,000 of them.
- The Macau Hotel Association warned that local hotels may need to cap their maximum guest capacity at 70% to 89% during the Lunar New Year holiday period due to a shortage of staff in operations.
UNWTO’s forward-looking scenarios for 2023 suggests global international tourist arrivals could reach 80%-95% of pre-pandemic levels this year, depending on the extent of the economic slowdown, the ongoing recovery of travel in Asia and the Pacific and the evolution of the Russian offensive in Ukraine. UNWTO anticipates a strong year for the sector even in the face of diverse challenges including the economic situation and continued geopolitical uncertainty. 2022 had twice the number of international travelers than 2021, more than 900 million tourists. The Middle East enjoyed the strongest relative increase as arrivals climbed to 83% of pre-pandemic numbers. Europe reached nearly 80% as it welcomed 585 million arrivals in 2022. Africa and the Americas both recovered about 65% of their pre-pandemic visitors but Asia and the Pacific reached only 23%. The sector is facing up to economic, health and geopolitical challenges but that is all supposed to be offset by the lifting of
