In addition to Phuket, Thailand opened another three islands of Samui, Tao and Phangan to vaccinated foreign tourists from July 15. According to Koh Samui Tourism Association, 75% of the three islands’ residents already vaccinated.

From C-trip, booking for summer family travel on average consist of 3.4 person, and among them over 60% involving parent born in the Eighties while children borne after 2010. Estimate based on flight booking indicate family travel this summer grew 8% over same period in 2019.

C-trip, China’s major travel portal reported on July 12, its package tour and FIT bookings for the coming summer from July1 to August 31 grew by over 10 times over same period last year.

From C-trip, China’s university students traveling in the coming summer on average outspend same period last year by 40%, which equivalent to 2 months of their living expenses.

UK include Hong Kong and Bulgaria in Green list which mean travelers from these two markets need only two negative covid-19 tests, one before departure and one 2 days after arrival, for entering without quarantine, effective from July 19.

From Oct 1, vaccinated tourists need only provide at arrival negative test taken 72 hours before departure for admission. They can choose to stay in any hotel and move free in the island.

On July 13 at zero hour, Hong Kong had a cumulative total of 11953 cases and at least for 28 consecutive days zero locally infected cases! Specifically, Between July 12 and June 29, Hong Kong had 29 imported cases, 1 case related to imported and 1 case still under investigation though found linked with 4 earlier imported cases; and between June28 and June 15 had 40 imported cases and 2 cases related to imported cases.

In the first half of 2021, China’s airlines carried 245 million passenger flights, up 66.4% over same period last year and equivalent to 76.2% of the traffic in 2019. Just focus on the second quarter, passenger traffic already the same level as in same period of 2019.

In 2020, China’s domestic travelers totaled 2.88 billion, down 52%, while domestic tourism income totaled RMB2.23 trillion, down 61%.

Quoting Thai authority, media reported Phuket by July 6 already received around 100,000 room night booking in the third quarter this year.

Thailand will launch on July 15 the Samui Plus, which expects to serve 1000 tourists in the first month.

With the recent case of a hotel cleaner confirmed to be imported, Hong Kong as of July 6 been for the past 29 days without any locally infected case.

Residents returning to Hong Kong within three months of departure, at present, can pay for a test of antibody in an approved laboratory, and those tested negative can shorten quarantine period to 7 days. Such test will be available at the Hong Kong airport within this month.

Media reported top average monthly salary in the second quarter this year are respectively Beijing at RMB11389, Shanghai at RMB11030, Shenzhen at RMB10442 and Guangzhou at RMB9714.

Arriving Phuket on July 1 were 366 travelers in 4 flights by different airlines. Thai foreign ministry reported on July 2 there were already some 4000 applications to enter the country, while TAT said over 1000 foreign tourists already booked Phuket hotels for the coming half month.

The Royal Caribbean “cruises to nowhere” started in Singapore in December 2020, and its Voyage of the Seas now operating domestic journeys in China.

From July 4, incoming international travelers with negative PCR test 72 hours before departure can visit Guam without quarantine, which already vaccinated 75% of her population by June 30.

Quoting the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) which is the world's largest cruise industry trade association, CNN on June 27 reported 16% of CLIA's ships are back.

Further, CLIA expects the percentage of operational cruises will rise to 49% by the end of the coming September and all CLIA members' ships to be operating again by the end of 2022.

GM of French brand of outdoor gears and products in Shenzhen reported big growth in business in the first 5 months this year, 130% for tents and 360% for camping related products comparing to 2019.

Reporter Linker, a market research firm, predicts China’s camping gear and products will grow by an annual compound rate of 9.1% to reach US$15.9 billion in 2027.

Media reported on June 26, China expert Dr. Zhong Nanshan predicted border between the mainland and Hong Kong, which in recent months managed to better control the pandemic, will be reopened partially in July

Following on EU’s recent announcement, France’s foreign ministry announced on June 24 that citizens of Hong Kong even for those without vaccine will be admitted without quarantine and take part in sightseeing activities etc.

A social platform in China report many of the country’s camping sites during the Dragon Boat Festival were full, with search traffic on camping grew 4 times for all and among the age group of 19 to 33 by 80%.

A travel portal in China report the country in 2020 saw big increases in outdoor travel! Specifically, camping grew 303.5%; driving tour 78.6%; hiking and riding respectively by 32.6% and 21.7%.

There exist in China, by the end of May 2021, some 20000 enterprises relating to camping sites, and of which 7933 first registered in 2020 and 6941 in the first five months of 2021.

Waves of search on travel portals for international destinations by Hong Kong residents immediately follow government’s recent announcement to cut returning residents’ quarantine requirement, reported Bloomberg. On June 21, Skyscanner traffic soared 43% with China (mainland), Japan, USA and UK the most popular destinations, while Expomedia local website rose by 10% with search on Macau rising by 40%. Despite the announcement, returning Hong Kong residents will still face quarantine in hotel.

On June 21, around 1.94 million Hongkongers which equivalent to 28.4 percent of the 6.84 million citizens above 12 years old - had at least one vaccine inoculation; and among them, 1.28 million　or 18.7 percent had two shots.

Hong Kong classifies Brazil, India, Nepal and the Philippines as extremely high-risk countries and flights banned; and countries like Ireland and Indonesia as very high-risk and arrivals must undergo 21 days of hotel quarantine whether they are vaccinated or not.

For vaccinated travelers from high- and medium-risk countries arriving Hong Kong, the hotel quarantine period will be halved to 7 days upon testing positive for antibodies; and similar arrangement for vaccinated arrivals low-risk Australia and New Zealand.

Except those from extremely high or very high risk countries or areas, returning Hong Kong residents who are fully vaccinated and test positive for antibodies within past 3 months, will from June 30 have their hotel quarantine period shortened to 7 days, announced the Chief Executive yesterday when the city been 14 days without locally infected case.

Also announced yesterday, Hong Kong will in about a month apply the same arrangement as described above to non-residents.

The Chief Executive said negotiation to resume cross border travel with Macau underway, which will only open to vaccinated people. Quoting Macau, media reported Hong Kong agreed to begin the scheme when the city has not seen a local case for 28 straight days, which July 6 will be the earliest possible.

Media reported on June 21, Hong Kong been in the past 15 days had no locally infected case of unknown source, and such case last occurred on June 5 infecting only the patient’s mother and sister.

From July 15 to Sep 30, Mauritius will admit vaccinated foreign tourists who can spend holiday only in hotel. Tourists who stay for over 14 days and test negative can then visit other parts of the country.

From Oct 1, vaccinated foreign tourists with negative test result in past 72 hours can visit various parts of Mauritius. However, unvaccinated foreign tourists will be quarantine for 14 days in both stage 1 and 2.

China’s domestic travelers during the Dragon Boat Festival from June 12 to 14 totaled 89.1 million which about 98.7% of same period pre-pandemic and 88.6% of them traveled within 300 km, according to China Ministry of Culture & Tourism.

Thailand Premier said on June 16 the country plan reopening fully to foreign visitors within 120 days, and earlier for those more ready, which Phuket an example. The Thai resort island now has around 60% population vaccinated which far higher than the national average of 5%, and when its vaccination rate hit at least 70% to kick-start the so called Phuket Sandbox Plan.

Thailand aims at quarantine free travel admitting vaccinated foreign visitors from low-risk source markets on July 1, who can stay for any period of time. Having stayed for at least 14 days in Phuket, these foreigners can travel to other parts of Thailand.

Phuket, which has a high vaccination rate, reported 6 new cases over the past week with some days of no local infections, as compared to the national average of 2790 new cases a day about a third of which in Bangkok.

According to McKinsey, countries with sizeable domestic travel market will recover earlier. For example, China’s domestic market will see recovery as early as 2022 to be followed by Japan and Germany in 2023.

Recent government statistics report Hong Kong travel, convention and exhibition industries lost 72.5% income in the first quarter this year.

Management consultancy McKinsey & Company on June 3 predicted vaccination and other factors resulting in leisure travel to recover fully but business travel will lose as much as 20 percent as many which been adopting technology during the pandemic not going back.

On June 9, South Korea said considering nationals fully vaccinated can join group tours to safe overseas destinations, been talking to Singapore and Taiwan for Travel Bubble arrangement, and will talk to Guam, Saipan and Thailand to reopen air travel.

Media reported that China (mainland) as of June 8 administered 809.0 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines.

The US Centres for Disease Control and prevention (CDC) issued new ratings on June 7, which widely considered as easing restriction. CDC’s level 1 rating for countries, which deem the safest and anyone fully vaccinated can go, include Singapore, Israel, South Korea, Iceland, Belize and Albania.

US name countries not advisable for non-essential visit by unvaccinated individual

Based on the 10 countries with the largest outbound markets in 2019 with such expenditures then totaled US$4 trillion and other factors, management consultancy McKinsey & Company on June 3 predicted global tourism will most likely recover to 2019 levels by 2024.

For the above top 10 outbound markets, McKinsey expects an 8 percent increases from pre-pandemic levels to US$4.3 trillion in 2024.

On June 7, Spain open its borders to vaccinated travelers from all over the world. The Spanish government target to draw 45 million inbound by the end of this year.

Quoting Sonny Harmadi, an Indonesian official, media reported on June 7 the country’s Ministry of Tourism and Innovation already completed planning to form travel bubble with UAE, Qatar, China, Singapore and Holland.

Media report China, as of June 2, already administered 704 million doses of vaccine, nearly half of which in the month of May. From Oxford University’s “Our World in Data”, so far the world administered around 1.9 billion doses of vaccine, of which around 1/3 from China.

Seven EU member states: Greece, Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Croatia and Bulgaria been started using vaccine passport, ahead of other EU members whose planned to use on July 1. The vaccine passport allows fully vaccinated travelers with tested negative within 72 hours can travel freely inside EU without quarantine.

The case of a police officer, who recently has been identified as infected with Covid-19, now clear yesterday as his test sample was found to be polluted. That means as of June 2, Hong Kong saw no locally infected case for 40 consecutively days, and cumulatively has 11849 cases.

On June 1, The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) assures tourism industry the “Phuket Sandbox” project, which open Phuket to fully vaccinated international visitors with negative test result upon arrival, will start as planned on July 1.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) predicted global number of air passengers would recover to 52% of pre-Covid levels, 88% in 2022, and grow by 5% in 2023.

All recent 5 cases of suspected locally infected cases in Hong Kong have outbound travel record. After various analysis including DNA sequencing, related authority announced on May 30 they were reclassified as imported cases which mean Hong Kong has no locally infected cases in the past 28 days. On May 30, the city has no new case, neither imported nor locally infected, and cumulatively 11838 cases in total.

One recruitment portal online surveyed 4288 employees in Hong Kong, and found in this year 34% respondents got no bonus nor double pay; 34% fully employed got a salary rise while 55% had salary frozen.

In March this year, a recruitment portal held online survey on 4288 Hong Kong employees, and found only 34% of full time employees will have a raise this year, while 55% had salary frozen.

In March this year an international bank surveyed online 1202 Hong Kong citizens with monthly earning at least HK$ 12000 and aged between 21 and 60. Before the pandemic, their personal monthly spending averaged HK$12300 which dropped to HK$10700 during pandemic.

Hong Kong government in discussion with cruise lines to launch Sea-cation in later half of the coming summer. Cruise ships, which leave and return to Hong Kong, will not go to other destination. However, crew and travelers are all required to be fully vaccinated.

From July this year, Viking Cruise will resume services with routes covering Portugal, France and River Rhine but only accept vaccinated travelers, and MSC to resume North Europe routes in the same month.

Held in the first week of May, the online survey received 1394 replies drawn mainly from ITE public visitors! It covers pent up travel demand, future travel budget, acceptable frequency of Covid-19 test, package tour or FIT, and factors affecting destination choices etc. For more details, please see press release on May 20 on www.itehk.com or click following link.
https://www.itehk.com/travelexpo/doc/press/TICITE21-PublicSurvey-May21_en.pdf

After travel restrictions lifted, 18% will travel abroad within 1 month, another 26% within 2 to 3 months, and another 22% within 4 to 6 months.

Over half and specifically 52.8% respondents will not cut back and some or 16.8% of all respondents will even increase their travel budget in the coming year.

Nearly three quarter willing to pay more for safer journey! Specifically, 34.4% to pay up to 10% more; 31.7% to 20% more; and 9.9% to pay 30% more.

In these 14 days, Hong Kong had 25 new Covid-19 cases of which 4 confirmed and another 1 suspected of being locally infected; and overall 1 case of unknown source. These average per day no more than 0.36 locally infected case including the suspected one, and 0.07 case of unknown source. By May 22 Hong Kong had cumulatively a total of 11833 confirmed cases.

Media report EU to open border to travelers from non EU countries in its Green list and fully vaccinated of an EU approved vaccine. At present, the Green list has only 7 countries, namely, Australia, Israel, New Zealand, Rwanda, Singapore, Thailand plus China if she agrees to reciprocate. A country with 75 cases per 100,000 people over a two weeks period will still be considered for the Green List.

Except the case of a 4 years old boy reported on May 15 which is still being investigated, as of May 19, Hong Kong had gone 26 days without untraceable local infection. All family members of the boy whose subsequent tests been negative, and test will be held today if the case is a false alarm. The Chief Executive and medical experts said Hong Kong getting close to zero local infection, and there are suggestion that authority shall start discuss reopening borders with the mainland and Macau.

Hong Kong and Singapore Air Travel Bubble, which was first planned for in November last year, will again be postponed, and both governments will make further announcement on or before June 13.

On May 17, Hong Kong government announced Argentina, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Malaysia, Holland and Singapore will be included in High Risk list from coming Friday, and non-citizens traveling from these countries not allowed into Hong Kong.

Effective on May 15, foreigners who vaccinated or with negative Covid-19 test can enter Greece and can visit different regions including Greek islands.

Greece target attractive some 13.2 million inbound visitors this year, which is 40% of arrivals in 2019. Greece drew only 7 million inbound in 2020.

There were 59000 fewer hotels with 15 or more rooms in mainland China in 2020, which mean losing 2.294 million rooms. While budget hotels lost 2.072 rooms, chain hotels gained some 166000 rooms in the same year.

IATA revised forecast in end April and estimated that airlines will lose a total of US$48 billion in 2021, while its last estimate was US$38 billion.

In the 14 days from April 28 to May 11, Hong Kong reported a total of 8, which average 0.57 case per day, of locally infected cases, of which only 1 is of unknown source. In fact, there been consecutive days with zero locally infected cases. On May 12, Hong Kong reported 2 newly confirmed Covid-19 cases, one imported and the other locally infected; and cumulatively 11815 confirmed cases.

Quoting Singapore foreign minister, media reported on May 10 that Travel Bubble between Singapore and Hong Kong will as scheduled be launched on May 26, though it still necessary in coming days to monitor the situation.

According to the University of Oxford, Israel and Seychelles are the countries having fully vaccinated more than half of their populations, while Britain, Bhutan and USA are the handful of countries at least partially vaccinated nearly 50% or more of their population.

In mid-April, China Tourism Research Institute projected domestic travelers in the country in the first half of 2021 will total 1.722 billion, up 85%, generating tourism income total RMB1.28 trillion, up 102%; while the corresponding figures for the first quarter of 2021 were respectively 697 million travelers, up 136%, and RMB0.56 trillion, up 150%.

Germany's Oktoberfest beer festival in Munich, which draws some 6 million visitors each year from late September to October, will this year again be cancelled.

According to Turkey Airline, effective from May 15 travelers from following countries and regions entering Turkey will not be required to submit Covid-19 test. They include for examples mainland China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, South Korea, Singapore and Japan etc.

The European Commission recommended on May 3 that all persons coming from countries with a good epidemiological situation and all people fully vaccinated with EU endorsed vaccine be allowed entry for non-essential purpose. This require approval by EU member countries who start discussion the next day.

On May 4, media reported UK trade minister said the country will shortly announce a green list of countries for quarantine-free travel from UK then people can book for a holiday.

Chairman of Hong Kong Travel Industry Council believes outbound tours to Singapore can only be started in summer when there are more flights, as in the first two weeks after the launching Travel Bubble between Hong Kong and Singapore flights are already fully booked.

By the end of last week (May 1), Hong Kong Travel Industry Council received from 29 Hong Kong travel agents registrations for over 100 local tours. At the earliest, Hong Kong will start local tours by the end of May.

The Chairman of Hong Kong Travel Industry Council understand the government been talking about setting up travel bubble to over 10 jurisdictions, which includes Thailand, Japan and South Korea etc.

Table: Daily new Covid-19 cases in Hong Kong from May 3 to April 20

Date	3-May	2-May	1-May	30-Apr	29-Apr	28-Apr	27-Apr
Local	0	0	0	2	0	1	3
Import	2	2	8	2	15	6	5
Total	2	2	8	4	15	7	8
Date	26-Apr	25-Apr	24-Apr	23-Apr	22-Apr	21-Apr	20-Apr
Local	0	2	3	1	2	0	5 (Incl. 1 probable case)
Import	4	4	0	8	12	1	3
total	4	6	3	9	14	1	8

Hong Kong average 1.4 local cases per day in past two weeks
Hong Kong in the two weeks from May 3 to April 20 had 6 days zero locally infected case; an average of 1.4 locally infected cases per day; and including both imported and locally infected an average of 7.2 cases per day.

Quoting statistics of travel portal, media reported on April 30 hotel bookings in China (mainland) during the May Day Holiday at least 40% higher than same period in 2019.

Quoting the Chief Executive, media reported yesterday Hong Kong been following up with Macau for re-opening border.

After the Hong Kong and Singapore Travel Bubble, Hong Kong Economic Secretary said Australia and New Zealand most likely will be the next destinations to set up travel bubble.

From the China Tourism Academy, the country had 155 million outbound tourists in 2019 who spent more than US$133 billion abroad.

Travel Bubble which allows quarantine free travel between Hong Kong and Singapore will take off on May 26. In the first two weeks, there will be one flight a day in each direction for a maximum of 200 passengers in each flight. Starting from June 10, the number of daily flights will be increased to two in each direction.

The Chairman of Hong Kong Travel Industry Council predict in the beginning travel cost high so business travelers dominate. More flights in June will lower travel cost and package tour for 4 days 3 nights will then cost HK$5000 to 6000. However, a major local travel agent report yesterday receiving many enquiries from regular clients who find it attractive even if the package tour to Singapore will cost HK$6000 to 7000.

According to Cathay official website, inaugural flight on May 26 to Singapore, which cost HK$8700 round trip, already sold out. But ticket price will drop in the second stage in June to HK$3900 round trip.

China’s largest survey found top three items on the nation’s consumption list in 2020 are respectively Digital Products like mobile and computer at 48.7%; Household appliances and electronic products at 41.7% and travel at 33.4%.

Thailand Deputy Prime Minister on April 20 said Phuket will as planned re-opening on July 1 this year to vaccinated foreign tourists and waive their quarantine requirement.

Hong Kong media report details of travel bubble between Hong Kong and Singapore will at the earliest be announced in early next week and will start officially at the end of May.

Hong Kong Secretary for Food and Health confirmed the city now holding technical discussions with Guangdong on health code to prepare for resuming cross border travel.

Effective at 23.59 on April 22, quarantine period for travelers from Hong Kong to Singapore will be cut short to 7 days from the current 14 days. Last week, Hong Kong announced quarantine period for vaccinated travelers from Singapore will be cut down to 7 days.

In the past 14 days, the city had 37 local infected cases or an average of 2.64 cases per day; and 175 new cases of which 79% imported. On April 19, Hong Kong have cumulatively a total of 11696 confirmed cases. Since mid-March, the city been have daily locally infected case in single digit.

Date	19-Apr	18-Apr	17-Apr	16-Apr	15-Apr	14-Apr	13-Apr
Local Case	1	1	8	6	2	1	3
Date	12-Apr	11-Apr	10-Apr	9-Apr	8-Apr	7-Apr	6-Apr
Local Case	2	2	2	2	2	2	3

China’s domestic tourists during May Day Holiday this year may exceed 200 million, which comparatively is higher than the total in 2019. Among them, 70% will take trip to other province and over 30% family travel.

By April 14, C-trip received bookings for air ticket, hotel, attraction ticket and car rental for the May Day Holiday rose respectively by 23%, 43%, 114% and 126% comparing to same period in 2019.

China Tourism Research Institute predict the country’s domestic travel during the May Day Holiday will recover more or less to pre-pandemic level. During the Ching Ming Festival earlier this month, there were 102 million domestic travelers which about 95% that of pre-pandemic.

On April 13, Singapore Transport Minister confirm finalizing details of revised agreement with Hong Kong, and expressed hope to announce the plan soon.

As talk with authority on covid-19 prevention making progress, Hong Kong travel agents are talking about relaunching local package tours, each of which with maximum 30 tourists, in early May.

According to the CE, Hong Kong by international standard now rank among the low risk areas. In the past 14 days and on a 7-days moving average, there daily are 2 locally infected cases and among them a daily average of 0.7 case of unknown source. Currently, there are 125 Covid-19 patients in hospitals and 90% of them with stable conditions. The fourth pandemic wave since November last year now very much under control.

In a press conference on April 12, Hong Kong CE announced visitor quarantine to be eased with some start being effective in this month:
a. At the end of April, for Hong Kong Residents Returning from Guangdong Province under the Return2hk Scheme will be expanded to other mainland provinces and cities to be exempted from the 14-day compulsory quarantine requirement;
b. By mid-May, mainlanders and people in mainland China can enjoy quarantine free entry to the city; this apply to all type of travelers but subject to quota;
c. Quarantine period for vaccinated travelers from low risk countries will be shortened to 7 days or less;
d. Quarantine period for vaccinated travelers from medium risk countries will be shortened to 7 days or less;
e. Vaccinated Hong Kong citizens can travel to destinations with Travel Bubble Arrangement, or enjoy shorter or quarantine free entry provided unilaterally by some destinations.

An Alliance of Hong Kong travel agents interviewed last week over 2000 citizens and found over 90% citizens hope to take overseas holiday.

Singaporean Foreign Minister said to have spent consideration time with China’s Foreign Minister in meeting on March 31, and told media travel between the two countries, which are working out a system to mutually recognize each other’s health certification, may soon resume.

From November last year to January this year, an US bank interviewed by phone over 4000 Hong Kong citizens aged between 21 and 79. The survey found there are some 515,000 citizens or 28.7% of the population with net worth at or over HK$10 million.

Among these multi-millionaires, 25% report an increase in their liquid asset comparing to the end of year 2019. The median increase was 1 million. 65% of them cited better investment return as reason for the increase.

Spokesman of China Foreign Ministry told reporters on April 6 that China and South Korea will liaise on setting up a mechanism to mutually recognize health code

Quoting an analyst, Reuters reported on April 5 in a piece about reopening border to tourists that Maldives seen hotel occupancy rates bounce back to 70 to 80% despite cases of the virus.

Reuters reported Thai government wants at least 100,000 tourists to visit Phuket in the third quarter, and the whole nation drawing some 6.5 million visitors by the end of this year who will have spent 350 billion baht.

The city had 29 local infected cases in the past two weeks, which average 2.07 cases per day. In each of the past 18 days, local infected case been in single digit.

Date	6-Apr	5-Apr	4-Apr	3-Apr	2-Apr	1-Apr	31-Mar
Local Case	3	1	0	1	7	2	1

For 11 consecutive days in late March, Hong Kong saw the daily number of locally infected cases dropped to single digits with 2 days even down to zero, and in this period averaged 3.27 cases per day.

On March 29, Hong Kong Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development said talks with Singapore on the delayed travel bubble resumed, and the city is in talks with 16 jurisdictions on travel arrangements for those who are vaccinated.

On March 30, Air New Zealand reported domestic business travel been back to 90% of pre-pandemic levels.

Anticipating a surge in demand for holidays, Marketing Director of Ryanair, Europe’s largest low-cost carrier, revealed on March 24 plan to have 2500 flights a week to, from and across Spain this summer.

Over 20 industry groups in USA, including Chamber of Commerce, airlines and the US Travel Association, called for a roadmap so a plan can be in place for international travel by this summer, and accordingly sent a letter to the White House.

In Hong Kong in 8 of the past 10 days in March, the daily number of new case due to local infection dropped to single digit. For the first time in 4 months, all 4 of the locally infected cases have known sources, and media reported government consider relaxing restrictions on local tours.

On March 23, Malaysia and Singapore agreed to make preparations for mutual recognition of each other’s vaccine certificates to facilitate future cross-border travel.

Quoting senior official from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, at the end of this year or early 2022, China can vaccine 70% to 80% of her citizens thus largely achieving herd immunity.

Based on comparison between 2 groups each of 600,000 people with one group been inoculated with Covid-19 vaccine and the other group no inoculation, Clalit - Israel’s largest medical service group found infection rate of the vaccinated dropped by 94% for those with no symptom and by 97% for those with symptom.

The EU targets, by the end of this summer, to vaccine at least 70% of its adult population or 255 million people. Some 11% of EU residents had inoculated as of mid-March.

Indonesia will offer travel corridor to countries with successful vaccination program and will also offer in return reciprocal benefit. Bali, which is included in a pilot project, start receive foreign travelers in June / July.

Two Walt Disney theme parks in California will reopen on April 30. Requiring both advance booking and ticket, attendance at first will be kept at about 15 percent. Various safety measures include wearing mask, temperature check at entrance and social distancing in the parks.

China's embassies in USA, Japan, Pakistan, Israel. Thailand and Gabon have also issued statement which promise to streamline visa arrangement for foreigners who has inoculated with Chinese vaccine for Covid-19 and to visit China for business or humanitarian reason.

On March 17, the Chief Executive of Hong Kong said in the city’s Legislative Council her government has been speaking to the mainland authority to waive some parts of inbound restrictions for vaccinated Hong Kong citizens.

From March 15, China issue visa only for business and family reason to certain travelers from the Philippines who have been inoculated with a Chinese made Covid-19 vaccine. This comes after similar arrangement for foreigners living in Hong Kong.

Koh Samui, resort island in southern Thailand, plans to open fully on Oct 1 this year to vaccinated foreign tourists without quarantine, according to the island’s tourism association.

From Seychelles Tourism Board, starting from March 25 foreign tourists who submit proof of PCR negative test taken 72 hours before departure can enter Seychelles without quarantine, but travelers from South Africa still cannot enter until further notice.

Media reported China plans to inoculate 560 million citizens by the end of June, and another 330 million by the end of this year. By the middle of next year China will vaccinates as much as 80% of the population then reach heard immunity, according to China’s Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.

In media interview, the director of IATA said personal and leisure travel will return from the second half of this year as borders reopen to tourists hungry to be free again; but business travel will have a slower recovery.

The International Air Transport Association's (IATA) launches a Travel Pass mobile application which allow airlines and immigration authorities to collect and share travelers’ vaccination and test results. Singapore Airline will use this app from March 15 in some routes for two weeks and 30 other airlines will start trial in the coming 2 months.

The China Version of an “International Travel Health Certificate” is available for Chinese citizen via Wechat. The e-certificate shows the holder’s nucleic acid test and serum antibody results, vaccine inoculation, etc. China’s foreign minister broke the news on March 7, which some foreign media describe it as a first step to a global health passport to allow for and facilitate international travel amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

In the virtual summit held on Feb 25, leaders from EU member states agree to launch digital vaccine passports likely available by summer to help tourism industry to recover.

European Travel Commission, which conducted surveys in last November and December, found growing interest to travel. The December survey found 52% of the European respondents plan to travel within the coming 6 months, which is 5% higher than that in November.

To restart tourism, six European member countries, namely, Spain, Austria, Bulgaria, Greece, Malta and Slovakia issued on March 1 a joint statement requesting EU to standardize requirements such as vaccine passport for re-starting non-essential travel.

After UK government announced recovery roadmap, EasyJet report its air ticket booking grew 337% while holiday booking by 630%.

While TUI received many bookings for holiday starting in July, another travel agent THOMAS COOK which saw web traffic grew 100% after UK government announcement, report many family book for holiday in August and Christmas.

Many UK citizens, after government announced recovery road-map on Feb 22, started booking for overseas holiday though UK will only resume international travel the earliest in May. Media reported on Feb 24 that the country’s leading travel agent, TUI, already reported booking for outbound tours grew by 500%.

Starting from Feb 23, Macau will admit all visitors from mainland China without requiring them to quarantine, including cities with recent covid-19 outbreak.

In 2020 there were a total of 28161 marriages in Hong Kong, which dropped by 36.7% as compared to 44520 marriages in 2019.

In 2020, some 1.07 million Chinese travelers visited Japan, which a drop of 88.9% compared to 2019.

Some 10200 Chinese travelers visited Japan in January this year, down 98.9% over same period last year. In each of the three consecutive months including January, Japan received over 10000 Chinese inbound.

On average, Hong Kong citizen has a life span of 84.7 years in 2019 which is higher than Japan at 83.7 years; and for two consecutive years rank first in the world, from World Health Organization.

Earlier this month, Canada announced extending ban on cruise ships to February next year. That effectively shutting down this summer a large part of the popular cruise trips to Alaska, which attracted a record 1.33 million cruise guests in 2019.

Where can resume inbound and outbound travel within six months? The survey found some 20% respondents believe in local tours, the Greater Bay Area and other cities in mainland China; 6.6% South-east Asia; and 3% Europe and Americas etc.

The online survey also found 92.5% of the respondents hope at the soonest to reopen border with mainland China and 92.8% hope Hong Kong to establish travel bubble with overseas.

An online survey in late January in Hong Kong, which received 1113 replies from travel agents and 662 from hotels, found nearly 90% of respondents urge the government to speed up discussions with other regions and countries to establish a vaccine passport.

In 2020, int'l tourist arrivals dropped 74% represents 1.1 billion fewer int'l tourist arrivals, an estimated loss of USD 1.3 trillion int'l tourism income than in the previous year, according to UNWTO.

Phuket’s business associations plan to pool fund to vaccinate the island’s population and apply to Thai government to waive a mandatory 14-day quarantine requirement to reopen to vaccinated foreign visitors by October this year.

In 2019, there were about 13.05 million domestic skiers in China, an on average skied 1.6 times in that year. Among all skiers, 72.04% were one-time-only skiers.

Around 17000 registered marriages between Jan and Sep 2020, a sharp drop of 45% from the same period of last year. But some suppliers in the wedding industry suffer business loss of 90%.

Foreign arrivals to Thailand in 2020 dropped 83% to 6.7 million, and Thailand’s state planning agency predicts foreign arrivals will drop further to 5 million this year.

The Association of Thai Travel Agents (ATTA) recently urged the government to remove a two-week quarantine for those tourists inoculated against Covid-19, and with that implemented tourism could recover in the second half of 2021 and inbound visitors could reach 10 million this year.

From HSBC survey, due to the market turmoil and unemployment uncertainty, respondents in favor of keeping more cash! Allocation of liquid assets with 66% in cash / savings, up by 3ppts and 34% for investment, dipped 3ppts from previous survey in June 2020.

In last September and October, Hong Kong Bank interviewed 1507 the city’s holders of bank account aged 18 to 64 found two-third of them have saving sufficient for covering basic living expenses for 6 months even without any income in the period.

Statistics show family travel in China dropped to an annual average of 2.4 times in 2020 from 2.7 times in 2019.

Theme parks at 27% ranked top, to be followed by Natural Scenery at 22%, Architecture at 19%, City Sightseeing at 12% and Museums at 11%.

Female account for 74% of the bookings, and those age between 7 and 12 years old account for 60% children taking part in family travel.

Based on bookings with children in past year, C-trip, China’s major travel portal, “post-80s” parents accounted for 41%, "post-90s" parents accounted for 32%, and "post-70s" parents accounted for 20%.

In the 2018-2019 winter season, China’s ice and snow tourists totaled 224 million and dropped by about 130 million during the 2019-2020 winter season.

China's ice and snow tourism travelers projected to 230 million trips during the current winter season which lasts from Nov20 to Mar21, generate revenue of more than RMB390 billion.

A report released by China Tourism Academy in early January on ice-and-snow tourism, 82% respondents are interest in short-distance ice-snow tours while 53% will keep or spend more for such trips than last year.

Beijing Skiing Association Chairman reported skiing grounds near Beijing during the three days New Year Holiday this year saw 40% to 50% more skiers than last year.

The global medical tourism market is forecast to be worth US$65.8 billion in 2025, which the Asia-Pacific will account for around 40%.

From report by the Hong Kong Food and Health Bureau, the city’s private sector medical expenditures in 2019 totaled HK$86.9 billion or US$11.1 billion, which is projected to grow at compound rate of 7.6% per year and will reach Hk$134 billion in 2025. Good potential for health / wellness tourism.

A study in early 2020 found 65% of the mainland Chinese who went abroad for medical treatments and services in 2019 came from high income groups of entrepreneurs and enterprises’ senior management; and 99% of these business went to destinations like USA, UK and Japan.

From China’s major travel portal, C-trip, hotel rates during the New Year Holiday this year are higher than same period last year with three star hotels increasing by 23%, four star by 21% and five star by 17%.

Rate of Macau's hotels between Dec 31 and Jan 3 average MOP$1127.6, which on the whole a rise of 7.6% over the last Golden Week in October; and rate for five stars hotels average MOP$1447.7 while four stars hotels at MOP$701.1.

On average, 19629 inbound from mainland China visited Macau each day between Dec 31 and Jan 3, accounting for 92% of the city’s total daily inbound in the period.

The Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce (HKGCC) conducted a survey in early November 2020 received 314 companies responded, and found 40% of HK companies expect the city’s business prospects to be negative in 2021, 22% saw their turnover plunge by more than half in the first 10 months of 2020, and 29% already cut down on number of staff comparing to the beginning of last year.

Media report Hong Kong will soon have a new e-booking system for vaccine inoculations, and the government is in talk with other countries over recognizing an electronic record for COVID-19 vaccination may be used for travel purpose.

Beijing will during New Year and Chinese New Year discourage travel agencies from various markets and online travel agencies to organize tour groups to the city; while the city’s travel agencies and online travel agencies will also suspend group tours nor selling ticket hotel package to domestic destinations designated as medium or high risk areas.

Mid last month, the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce HKGCC projected the city’s economy will drop 6% in 2020 but will rise 3.5% in 2021; and unemployment rate rise to 7% in 2020, and will fall to 4.8% in 2021.