Robert Besser
22 Sep 2022, 16:21 GMT+10
BANGKOK, Thailand: Online travel agency Agoda predicts that Asian tourists will resume international travel at pre-pandemic levels by 2024.
The company's CEO, Omri Morgenstern, said he expects tourists from Asian countries, excluding China, to not begin traveling for another six months after COVID-19 restrictions are lifted to travel confidently.
"Korea opened up two months ago but numbers are 40 percent of what it was before, so it's not jumping," said Morgenstern, who took the helm at Agoda in July, as reported by Reuters.
Across its Asian markets, Agoda's booking volumes have returned to 2019 levels, but more so in domestic travel, Morgenstern told Reuters, in contrast to the stronger and quick tourism recovery in the United States and Europe.
"In the U.S. or Europe, it's almost like everybody decided COVID was over," said Morgenstern, noting that travel resumed quickly there and many stopped wearing masks.
On the other hand, in many Asian countries such as Thailand, South Korea, Singapore, and Indonesia people have kept masks on even after mandates were dropped.
Agoda is rolling out more products to allow customers to plan their entire travel itinerary on the platform with the promise of more discounts, Morgenstern added.
Get a daily dose of Shanghai Sun news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Shanghai Sun.
More InformationSAN FRANCISCO, California: Sam Altman, CEO of ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, has said the company could consider leaving Europe if it could ...
WASHINGTON D.C.: Reuters has reported that US President Joe Biden's nominee for a federal judge position in Kansas, Jabari Wamble, ...
WASHINGTON D.C.: Jennifer Homendy, head of the US National Transportation Safety Board, has said the US will investigate recent near ...
MIAMI, Florida: Four Chinese citizens living in Florida have sued the state over a new law barring citizens of China ...
OSLO, Norway: Norwegian Defense Minister Bjoern Arild Gram has said that Norway would conduct training programs for Ukrainian pilots in ...
LOS ANGELES, California: Reuters has reported that California is seeking approval from the the Biden administration to require all new ...
BEIJING, China: An official report released this week stated that the collapse of a nine-story building in central China in ...
CANBERRA, Australia: Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has expressed his support of a joint statement by the Group of Seven ...
Washington says it's received no response from Beijing to a request for a meeting between the countries? defense chiefsThe Pentagon's ...
Islamabad [Pakistan], May 28 (ANI): The newly appointed Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) general secretary Omar Ayub Khan on Sunday alleged that ...
Hong Kong on Saturday 'strongly condemned' rights group Amnesty International for alleging that a Uyghur man had gone missing after ...
Washington says it's received no response from Beijing to a request for a meeting between the countries? defense chiefsThe Pentagon's ...