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| 2022-05-19 | New Zealand to open to non-visa waiver Countries Read More Announced on May 11 New Zealand will, from 11.59pm on July 31, admit tourists and students from non visa-waiver countries like China and India. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022-05-18 | Japan re-opening door to foreign tourists Read More On May 17, Japan announced travelers from USA, Australia, Thailand and Singapore will be allowed to enter the country in this month, they took all three Covid-19 vaccination shots, in a small package tour group with a fixed itinerary and traveling with travel agent staff. Also, local media reported Japan is preparing to accept more tourists in June. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022-05-17 | Hong Kong travel agents to resume Local Tours Read More Though the industry still suffering, encouragingly, over 480 Hong Kong travel agents already registered to resume local tour groups, according to the Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022-05-16 | Cathay carried more passengers this year Read More Comparing to the same period last year, Cathay’s passenger traffic in the first 4 months this year up 37.8%, while in April up 82.2%. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022-05-13 | Tourism to recover fully in 2023 Read More In April this year, the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) projects, the travel and tourism's contribution to global GDP is expected to grow 43.7% this year, and return to pre-pandemic levels in 2023. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022-05-12 | Hong Kong saw new low in daily new cases Read More Since the middle of April, daily number of new cases in Hong Kong been dropping to triple digits and recently hovering between 200 and 300 despite rounds of restriction relaxation.
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| 2022-05-12 | Media report Cathay to increase and resume summer flights Read More In AGM2022 held on May 11, Cathay management expressed the company will in reaction to the relaxations taken this month to try best to increase international flights and foretold to announce in the next one to two weeks summer flight schedule. Some Hong Kong travel agents believe there exist pent up travel demand and these travelers do not mind paying more for luxury travel. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022-05-11 | Airbnb reported good summer business Read More Airbnb reported bookings by the end of April by room-night for summer already exceed same period in 2019 by 30%. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022-05-06 | Fewer domestic travelers in China during May Day Holiday Read More During the May Day Holiday, the number of domestic trips in Mainland China dropped 30.2% year-on-year to 160 million, which equivalent to 66.8% of pre-pandemic level; while domestic tourism revenue dropped by 42.9% year-on-year to 64.68 billion yuan, which equivalent to 44% of pre-pandemic level. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022-05-05 | Thailand welcomed more foreign visitors Read More After relaxation on testing and health insurance, Thailand saw foreign visitors rose 38% in March from February. Further, the country from April 1 relax entry rules for vaccinated travelers and welcomed 358,364 foreign visitors between April 1 and 27 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022-05-03 | Singapore Airport handles even more passenger traffic amid relaxing restrictions Read More Singapore Changi Airport handled 1.14 million passengers in March which first time exceeding 1 million since pandemic! The city state lifted most travel restrictions on fully vaccinated travelers in early April and saw air passenger traffic to Singapore reached 400,000 in the week ending April 17. |
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| 2022-04-29 | Arrivals to Nepal doubled in first quarter Read More Foreign arrivals to Nepal in the first three months this year rose to around 79000 which more than doubled the figure same period last year, and tourism recovery expected to continue in coming months. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022-04-28 | Camping popular in coming May Day Holiday in China Read More Tickets during May Day Holiday for parks where camping allowed saw sale volume grew over 50% compared to same period last year, and bookings of camping related products like tours and lodgings three times last year, from China’s major travel portal, Qunar.com. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022-04-27 | Hong Kong admits non-residents from May 1 Read More From May 1, non-residents can enter Hong Kong if they meet requirements same as residents, which include full vaccination, negative test results before departure and booking of quarantine hotel etc. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022-04-27 | Daily new cases in Hong Kong dropped to below 350 on April 26 Read More For the first time since the 5th Covid-19 wave, Hong Kong daily new cases dropped to 3 digits, specifically to 946 cases, on April 15, and kept dropping. On April 26, the city reported only 347 new cases.
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| 2022-04-26 | Hong Kong citizens join local tour and staycation during pandemic Read More From 2022 report published by travel portal Expedia in late March, 40% of respondents from Hong Kong reported taking staycation in their last holiday and 51% took some form of holiday locally in past 6 months. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022-04-26 | Latest measures on traveling to Thailand from May Read More Effective from 1 May 2022, international passengers will be divided into two categories: "Fully vaccinated" and "unvaccinated/not fully vaccinated", replacing TEST & GO.
For entry measures into Thailand, CLICK HERE
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| 2022-04-25 | Holiday now even more important to Hong Kong citizens Read More Expedia's report say Hong Kong citizens' desire to travel keep growing, as holiday now becoming even more important to 92% respondents, and 25% already booked holiday for this year. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022-04-25 | International destinations popular to Hong Kong citizens by Searches Read More Expedia reported, as of March 21, top ten destination cities by searches for lodging in the coming three months from April to June by Hong Kong citizens were respectively London, Tokyo, Bangkok, Taipei, Singapore, Osaka, Phuket, Paris,. Vancouver and Manchester. Above not include mainland China cities and Macau. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022-04-22 | More Europeans visited SE Asia this year Read More Travelers to SE Asia so far this year came respectively from Europe at around 33%, up from 22% in 2019; North America at 21%, and Asia at 24% which far smaller than the 57% in 2019, according to ForwardKeys. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022-04-21 | IATA predicts Asia Pacific traffic this year about 70% pre-pandemic level Read More IATA predicts air passenger traffic, including both domestic and international, within the Asia Pacific will reach 68% of 2019 in 2022 and rise back to pre-pandemic traffic by 2025. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022-04-20 | Singapore and Philippines saw largest rebound in airline bookings Read More This year till late March, airline bookings to Singapore and Philippines were respectively at 72% and 65% of 2019 levels, which higher than Thailand’s 24%, according to ForwardKeys. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022-04-19 | Airline bookings to SE Asia jumped in past months Read More According to travel firm Forwardkeys, international airline bookings to SE Asia at the beginning of this year were less than 10% of 2019 levels, but by late March reached 38% of pre-pandemic levels. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022-04-14 | Suzhou travel agents suffer from booking cancellations this year Read More Also, Suzhou Travel Agents Association reported members lost over RMB21 million revenue due to over 40000 cancellations for holidays during the Spring Festival this year and those after March 8, which result of sudden surge of Covid-19. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022-04-13 | Suzhou travel agents face great difficulties Read More On March 31, media reported some travel agents associations of Suzhou city in Eastern China, they visited 183 members, found over 90% of travel agencies were unable to pay for staff wages, social security funds and rent for April, while over 30% of employees have voluntarily resigned. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022-04-12 | HK's daily Covid cases drop to around 1400 Read More Peaked on March 3 at over 56000 cases, daily new case in Hong Kong been dropping continuously to a new low of 1407 cases on April 11, of which 698 by PCR test and 709 by rapid antigen test.
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| 2022-04-11 | South Korea plans to resume international flights from May Read More On April 6, South Korea announced plan to resume international flights in three phrases. From next month, the government will authorize a further 100 weekly flights for destinations possible with visa-free entry and quarantine exemptions, such as USA, Europe, Thailand and Singapore etc. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022-04-08 | WHO says it likely Covid-19 severity reduces over time Read More Among the three possible scenarios of how Covid-19 will evolve, the most likely one is the “virus continues to evolve, but the severity of disease it causes reduces over time”, from the World Health Organization on its March 30 release. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022-04-07 | Philippine to waive quarantine for fully vaccinated travelers from China Read More From April 1, Philippine allows fully vaccinated travelers from China to enter the country without quarantine, who shall monitor by themselves health conditions for one week. However, inbound travelers shall bring along a negative result proof of a PCR based nucleic acid test for COVID-19 within 48 hours or a Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) test, which must be conducted within 24 hours before departure. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022-04-06 | South Korean agents reported outbound tours grew 4 times after lifting quarantine Read More Comparing bookings before and after the announcement of lifting quarantine requirement for fully vaccinated inbound travelers, one South Korean travel agent reported outbound tour bookings grew 4 times, with the SE Asia recording the largest growth, then Europe and Americas. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022-04-04 | Pent-up demand drives S Korean flight bookings grew nearly 300% Read More One online travel agent in South Korea received more flight bookings between March 11 and 22 for Oceania ( 324%) Southeast Asia ( 268%) and Europe ( 262%) over the same period in 2021. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022-04-01 | South Koreans rush abroad after lifting of quarantine Read More On March 11, South Korea announced lifting on March 21 a 7-day mandatory quarantine for fully vaccinated travelers arriving from most countries. An e-commerce unit of the country’s top mobile carrier reported sales of overseas air tickets between March 11 and 27 rose more than 8 times comparing to same period last year. |
| Date | Title | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| 2022-03-31 | G20 to standardize Covid-19 protocols for easier traveling Read More G20 countries will standardize Covid-19 protocols to facilitate international travel. A common website portal, which can verify certificate of vaccination and test results carried by travelers, will be used at border crossings. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022-03-30 | Indonesia removes quarantine requirement for International air travelers Read More Quoting Indonesia President, media reported on Mar 23 international air travelers arriving the country need only to take a PCR test but no quarantine be required. At present, only 7 Indonesian airports allow international arrivals by air. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022-03-29 | Hong Kong to shorten airlines ban to 7 days Read More From April 1, Hong Kong will shorten “flight suspension mechanism” to 7 days from the current 14 days when the same flight carried three or more passengers who tested positive on arrival. This encouraging to airlines planning to resume flights. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022-03-28 | Hong Kong daily new cases fell to below 9000 Read More Hong Kong daily new cases fell to below 9000
The 5th pandemic wave peaked on March 3 at over 55000, Hong Kong’s daily new cases dropped to below 9000 on March 26 and 27. Earlier, experts in the University of Hong Kong predicted the number will drop to below 1000 in late April then to double digits in May.
TABLE: Hong Kong Daily New Cases from mid to late Mar 2022
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| 2022-03-25 | Covid-19 cause China’s events be canceled Read More According to China Association of Performing Arts, some 9000 performances / events in the first quarter of the year would have been cancelled or postponed by the end of March, which account for some 30% of the quarter's total. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022-03-24 | Hong Kong relaxing rules likely trigger outbound demand Read More The chairman for the Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong commented recent relaxations of travel restriction for Hong Kong residents includes flight resumption and shorten mandatory hotel quarantine would trigger the city’s outbound travel demand. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022-03-23 | Hong Kong to lift flight bans Read More Starting April 1, Hong Kong will lift the current flight bans from 9 countries including UK, USA, Canada, Australia, Philippines, France, India, Nepal and Pakistan; and will no longer classify overseas regions / countries into A, B and C risk categories. But in the first phase only fully vaccinated Hong Kong residents can board flights for Hong Kong. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022-03-22 | Hong Kong to cut short quarantine for returning residents Read More From April 1, returning Hong Kong residents who met the following conditions can cut short quarantine stay in hotel from 14 to 7 days. (a) Before departure: fully vaccinated, 7 days booking in quarantine hotel in Hong Kong, negative PCR test results 48 hours before boarding. (b) Upon arrival, be required to go through a 7-day quarantine in hotels during which they are to be tested every day. If negative on the 6th and 7th day consecutive days, they can leave for self-monitor at home for another 7 days but can conduct business normally. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022-03-21 | Vietnam removes quarantine requirements for int'l arrivals Read More From March 16, foreign visitors entering Vietnam will no longer have to undergo mandatory quarantine and only require to present proof of negative COVID-19 test, according to a statement by the Vietnam’s Ministry of Health. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022-03-18 | Indonesia removes Covid-19 testing requirements for fully vaccinated domestic travelers Read More From March 8, fully vaccinated domestic travelers in Indonesia, including both citizens and foreigners, will no longer be required to undergo a Covid-19 test on all modes of transportation. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022-03-17 | Global Tourism Economy to recovery 60% to 80% in 2022 Read More The joint report by WTCF and CASS project global tourism receipt in 2022 will total US$4 trillion, with the Americas recovering over 80% of the pre-pandemic level, Europe to around 80%, the Asia Pacific to under 70%, while Africa and the Middle East each to around 60%. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022-03-16 | Global Tourism to recover to 70% pre-pandemic level Read More A recent joint report by the World Tourism Cities Federation (WTCF) and the Tourism Research Centre, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (TRC-CASS) predicts that global tourism will gradually recover in 2022, with number of travelers totaling 8.45 billion and the global tourism revenue totaling USD4.0 trillion or nearly 70% of the pre-pandemic levels. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022-03-15 | UK removes all COVID-19 travel restrictions Read More UK will remove the remaining COVID-19 international travel restrictions from 18 March 2022, which mean all travelers no longer required to complete a passenger locator form or take any tests for when entering the UK. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022-03-14 | India to resume international flights Read More On March 8, India announced plan to resume from March 27 scheduled commercial flight to international destinations. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022-03-11 | Experts said Hong Kong’s 5th Covid-19 wave has peaked Read More A team from the medical school of the University of Hong Kong, in their analysis, said the city’s 5th pandemic wave may have peaked in the first week of March, and predicted new cases will start dropping to triple digits per day in April then to double digits in May. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022-03-10 | Hong Kong citizens go abroad as pandemic at new height Read More Media reported on March 9 some 26000 Hong Kong citizens went abroad between March 1 and March 8, up 50% over same period last month, and over 70% or around 19000 of them departed from the city’s airport; and March 6 the busiest day with some 5000 departures over 80% of them by air. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022-03-09 | Fully vaccinated foreigners can visit Bali without quarantine Read More From March 7, fully vaccinated foreign tourists entering Indonesia’s resort island of Bali are no longer require arrivals to quarantine but they need to remain on the island for 4 days | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022-03-08 | IATA forecasts on air travel recovery Read More According to the latest update to IATA’s long-term forecast in February this year, in 2022, overall traveler numbers will be improved to 83% of the pre-pandemic 2019, 94% in 2023, 103% in 2024, and 111% in 2025. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022-03-07 | Israel opens to all inbound travelers including from Hong Kong Read More From March 1, all travelers, vaccinated or not but tested negative in two PCR tests before departure and at arrival, can enter Israel without quarantine. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022-03-04 | Singapore saw more arrivals from Hong Kong Read More Singapore Changi Airport in January this year received some 8000 arrivals from Hong Kong, up 88% over the month before. A total of 137 flights been scheduled to fly from Hong Kong to Singapore in March. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022-03-04 | More departures from Hong Kong Read More Hong Kong recorded 71000 departures in Feb, the highest monthly figure since the pandemic. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022-03-03 | Possible sign China could change Covid-19 Strategy Read More Calling it a possible sign that China could move away from its zero-Covid-19 strategy “in the near future”, a top Chinse scientist, Zeng Guang, wrote in his Weibo post on Feb 28 that the roadmap for Chinese-style to co-existence with the virus should be presented in the near future and at the right time. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022-03-02 | Hong Kong may reopen borders this year Read More Hong Kong's Financial Secretary said on a radio program on February 25, it is quite hopeful that if the current wave of Covid-19 could be brought under control in the next two to three months, then Hong Kong could restart quarantine-free travel with the mainland towards the end of the second or in the third quarter, and may even reopen border for international travel within this year. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2022-03-01 | Tourism expenditure grows in 2021 Read More Globally, tourism expenditures in 2021 totaled US$1.9 trillion, up by US$300 billion over 2020 but around half of that in a pre-pandemic year, from UNWTO. |
| Date | Title |
|---|---|
| 2022-02-28 | International tourist arrivals - at least two more years back to 2019 level Read More UNWTO projected international tourist arrivals will rise by 30% to 78% in 2022 comparing to 2021, while 64% of experts expect international arrivals to return to 2019 levels only in 2024 or later, according to the survey data from the UNWTO Panel of Experts. |
| 2022-02-25 | 2021 Europe and Americas received more foreign tourists Read More International arrivals to destinations in Europe and the Americas in 2021, comparing to 2020, rose 19% and 17% respectively. |
| 2022-02-25 | Experts seeing positive outlook on global tourism Read More According to UNWTO Panel of Experts, 61% tourism professionals see better prospects for 2022. While 58% expect a rebound during the third quarter of 2022, 42% expect a potential rebound only in 2023. |
| 2022-02-24 | 2021 Global tourism declines continue into 2021 Read More Recent data from UN World Tourism Organization reveals international tourist arrivals (overnight visitors) were dropped 72% comparing to 2019. Specifically, international arrivals to Asia Pacific destinations in 2021 dropped 65% comparing to 2020. |
| 2022-02-23 | Philippines reopens international borders Read More According to Philippine Tourism Secretary in a radio interview on Feb 21, nearly 22000 tourists have visited the country since Feb 10 when the country reopened its borders to international travelers and more expected. Fully vaccinated travelers and test negative before boarding can travel to Philippines without quarantine. |
| 2022-02-23 | On Feb 22, Hong Kong government announced measures to fight Covid-19, which for examples include: Read More
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| 2022-02-22 | Australia reopens international borders Read More From Feb 21, fully vaccinated international travelers can travel to Australia without quarantine. There is over 50 international flights arrivals are expected on that day, while Qantas looking to fly over 14000 passengers into the country in the first week. |
| 2022-02-22 | Malaysia targets to reopen borders in second quarter this year Read More Quoting Malaysia’s Health Minister, media reported on Feb 19 a realistic target to reopen the country’s international borders is early in the second quarter of this year. |
| 2022-02-21 | Singapore opens VTL to vaccinated Hong Kong Travelers Read More From Feb 25, fully vaccinated travelers will be able to enter Singapore from Hong Kong via Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) without quarantine but are required to take an on-arrival PCR test at the airport and self-isolate until negative test result is obtained; while those non-vaccinated be quarantined for 7 days. |
| 2022-02-18 | Indonesia to reduce quarantine requirement to those with booster shot Read More Starting from March, for inbound foreigners and returning citizens who had received their booster shot against Covid-19, Indonesia will reduce the quarantine period from five to three days which may even be abolished on April 1 if situation further improves. |
| 2022-02-17 | Turkey expects strong bookings for its Beaches Read More The high season of Turkey’s beaches in the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas start in May. According to Turkish Hoteliers Federation, bookings from UK almost in line with 2019 which a good indication of strong demand also expected from other European countries. Traditionally, early bookings start with UK and are taken as a reference for the season. |
| 2022-02-16 | Omicron wreak havoc in Hong Kon Read More On Feb 14, Hong Kong reported 2071 newly confirmed Covid-19 cases of which nearly 95% Omicron, and totally 25051 cases since the pandemic! Also, experts predicted the current wave will peak end of Feb or in March. |
| 2022-02-15 | Vietnam opens to international flights Read More From Feb 15, Vietnam will remove Covid-19 restrictions on international flights for all markets and no limitation on the number of flights. |
| 2022-02-15 | China not renewing passport for leisure travel during pandemic Read More Official statement on Feb 12 say China will normally issue passports for citizens who need to travel abroad for business, study and employment, but will not renew passports for non-essential travel during pandemics when cross border travel poses great risk. |
| 2022-02-14 | More travel in the vicinity in China’s Spring Festivals this year Read More This year, Inter-provincial and intra-provincial tours during China’s Spring Festival Golden Week were 21.7% and 78.3% respectively. |
| 2022-02-11 | Domestic travel lower marginally in China's Spring Festivals this year Read More Domestic travelers in the 7 days of China’s Spring Festival Golden Week this year totaled 251 million, which down 2% over same period in 2020 and about 73.9% in 2019; and they contributed RMB289.2 billion tourism revenue, down 3.9% over last year and about 56.2% in 2019. |
| 2022-02-10 | Jakarta airport closed but others stay open for foreign arrivals Read More To slow down the spread of Omicron, Indonesia banned temporarily foreign tourists to enter the country through Jakarta airport, but airports in Bali, Batam and Tanhung Pinang in Riau Islands remain open. |
| 2022-02-09 | Hong Kong tightens social distancin Read More With some days this week reporting over 600 daily new cases, Hong Kong government announced on Feb 8 to tighten social distancing which include start enforcing vaccination passport on Feb 24 when entering certain types of facilities like restaurant, and change law allowing employers to fire absent employees who refuse to get vaccinated without valid ground etc. |
| 2022-02-08 | More inbound from mainland to Macau during Spring Festival Read More Over 100600 travelers from mainland China visited Macau during the Spring Festival Golden Week, which run from Jan 1 to Feb 6, up 29% over same period last year. |
| 2022-02-08 | Thailand to discuss with China soon for a bilateral travel Deal Read More From an official statement issued on Feb 7, Thailand government will soon discuss with China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism on details of a possible bilateral travel deal. |
| 2022-02-07 | Thailand reported good responses to its quarantine-free scheme Read More On 2 Feb, the Tourism Authority of Thailand reported that more than 60,000 people have registered online to enter the country under the “Test & Go” scheme since the scheme re-opened on 1 Feb and more expected. |
| 2022-02-04 | Hong Kong hotels suffer heavily from the pandemic Read More During the pandemic, Hong Kong hotels’ revenues dropped by more than 50% on average. Even though there’re some staycation or quarantine business, it just enough to pay for basic expenses such as staff salary according to the Federation of Hong Kong Hotel Owners. |
| Date | Title |
|---|---|
| 2022-01-31 | UK to accept fully vaccinated travelers without quarantine Read More From 4am on 11 February, fully vaccinated travellers (two doses) will no longer need to take a lateral flow test (LFT) two days after they arrive UK. In addition, UK will also recognize vaccine certificates issued by 16 other countries including China. |
| 2022-01-28 | Hong Kong to resume outbound tour end this year or early next Read More The newly appointed chairwoman of the Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong, Mrs Gianna Hsu predicts Hong Kong’s outbound tours will be resumed in the fourth quarter this year or early next year. In 2021, the total number of licensed travel agencies in Hong Kong dropped to 1662 which just below the figure in 2013, while practitioners of the tourism industry have dropped by 50% before the Coronavirus Disease 2019 epidemic. |
| 2022-01-27 | Thailand re-open Test & Go Scheme for quarantine-free entry Read More Vaccinated international travelers can apply for quarantine free visa under Thailand’s Test & Go Scheme on Feb 1, which require them to take Covid-19 tests upon arrival and on the fifth day. Before its current suspension, Thailand’s Test & Go scheme helped attract about 350,000 vaccinated travelers in around two months. |
| 2022-01-26 | WHO reported Omicron peaked in Africa Read More In mid-January, the WHO regional office for Africa also said cases of Covid-19 and related deaths in that region started declining since the Omicron-dominated fourth wave. |
| 2022-01-25 | WHO said Covid-19 may be back but pandemic may not Read More WHO Europe director Hans Kluge said on Jan 23 that once the current surge of Omicron subsides, “there will be for quite some weeks and months a global immunity”, which happen “before Covid-19 may come back towards the end of the year, but not necessarily the pandemic coming back”! |
| 2022-01-24 | UNWTO predicts full recovery earliest in 2024 Read More The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) said on Jan 18 that due to varying degrees of mobility restrictions, vaccination rates and traveler confidence result in uneven recovery across world regions, international arrivals not expected to return to pre-pandemic levels until 2024 in the earliest. |
| 2022-01-21 | Hong Kong ready for quarantine-free travel with mainland China Read More On Jan 12, the Chief Executive of HKSAR said in the Legislative Council Q&A session, preparation works with the mainland on resuming quarantine-free travel almost completed, and date will be fixed once when Hong Kong does not have new locally transmitted Covid cases for 14 consecutive days. |
| 2022-01-20 | UNWTO predicts tourism recovery continue in 2022 Read More On Jan 18, the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) reported global tourism arrivals saw a 4% growth in 2021 over 2020, and predicted a 30% to 78% growth in international arrivals this year over 2021! Thus, 2022 will be a year of recovery, though Omicron will cause disruptions in the early months! |
| 2022-01-19 | Two local cases in first half of January in Hong Kong Read More Hong Kong in the past 14 days (January 2 to 15), a total of 363 cases that tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus have been reported, which averaged 26 cases per day. 61 of them are epidemiologically linked with imported cases/possibly import-related cases, two are local cases, and the rest are imported cases. However, there been days with new cases only in single digit. |
| 2022-01-18 | ACCA survey: Majority surveyed accountants think Hong Kong GDP rebound this year Read More ACCA Hong Kong conducted a survey polling 170 of its certified accountant members in December 2021, 85% of respondents expect Hong Kong GDP to grow positively this year, with 44% believing growth ranging from 0 to 1.9%; 35% growth from 2 to 3.9% and 6% over 4%. |
| 2022-01-17 | Omicron peaked in UK and to peak in USA soon Read More Media reported daily new cases in UK in the second week of January dropped to an average of 140,000 from previous high of nearly 200,000. The Covid-19 Modeling Consortium by the University of Texas projected daily new cases in USA will peak in the second week of January. |
| 2022-01-14 | Thailand include more beach destinations in its Sandbox Read More From 11 Jan 2022, fully vaccinated international travellers can also enter Thailand under the Sandbox programme at either Krabi, Phang-Nga, and Surat Thani (Ko Samui, Ko Pha-ngan, and Ko Tao), in addition to Phuket. Travelers do not need to do quarantine but they must stay there for at least 7 nights and will then be allowed to visit other destinations in Thailand. |
| 2022-01-13 | Beijing Winter Olympics go ahead as planned Read More Despite recent spreading of Omicron in China, Chinese Olympic officials said on Jan 11 there is no plan to lock down Beijing in the lead-up to the Winter Olympics, which will take place from Feb 4 to Feb 20, as the situation is largely under control. But a large scale outbreak within the Olympic Covid-19 bubble would be different! |
| 2022-01-12 | Hong Kong only 1 omicron case of unknown source Read More Hong Kong confirmed the first Omicron case on Dec 30 and a total of 354 cases as of Jan 10 (or around 30 new cases per day), of which 312 imported, 41 locally infected but related to imported case and only 1 local case of unknown source. |
| 2022-01-11 | Indonesia targets more international arrivals in 2022 Read More Indonesia sets a target of attracting 1.8 to 3.6 million international visitors this year, up from the 1.5 million visitor arrivals in 2021 but fewer than the 4.05 million arrivals in 2020. |
| 2022-01-10 | China theoretically reach herd immunity Read More As of Jan 6 this year, 86% or 1.213 billion Chinese citizens had been fully vaccinated. Theoretically speaking, China’s herd immunity goal has been achieved, says expert. In fact, China has the lowest COVID-19 mortality rate in the world, with a prevalence rate of 9.4 per 100,000 and a mortality rate of 0.4 per 100,000. |
| 2022-01-07 | Macau bans air passengers from outside China Read More Macau will ban civil aircraft from carrying passengers from places outside China to Macau for two weeks starting from midnight on the coming Sunday. (9 Jan) |
| 2022-01-06 | Hong Kong to tighten measures to fight Omicron Read More On Jan 5, Hong Kong Chief Executive announced tightening measures to fight omicron, which include cancelling large scale public events like Cyclothon scheduled to be held within 14 days and cruise trips; ban all passenger flights including indirect arrivals from Australia, Canada, France, India, Pakistan, Philippines, UK, and USA from Jan 8 for 14 days etc. There will be a review 7 days after implementation of above. |
| 2022-01-06 | All Omicron cases in Hong Kong can be traced to source Read More As of Jan 5, Hong Kong so far recorded 114 omicron cases, and all can be traced to the source. |
| 2022-01-05 | Hong Kong with over 100 imported Omicron cases Read More Hong Kong so far has 107 Omicron cases, of which 102 imported, 5 related and no case of unknown source, according to media report in the morning on Jan 4. In past two years till Jan 3, the city has cumulatively 12677 confirmed Covid-19 cases. |
| 2022-01-05 | Quarantine-free travel border reopening with the mainland delayed as HK hit by the Omicron Read More Hong Kong Chief Executive told media in the morning on Jan 4 omicron cases recorded in the city will delay quarantine free border crossing with the mainland. |
| 2022-01-04 | Europe so far account for over one-third of Covid-19 cases Read More Over the past two years, the European region, which includes 52 countries and territories from the Atlantic coast to Russia and Azerbaijan, recorded over 100 million infections of Covid-19, of which over 4.9 million new cases confirmed the past 7 days from Jan 1. |
| 2022-01-04 | The World so far had around 300 million Covid-19 infections Read More From US John Hopkins University, the world recorded over 289 million infections of Covid-19 in the past two years. |
| 2022-01-03 | UNWTO on Tourism Recovery Read More On when international tourism will recover to 2019 levels, 43% of members of UNWTO Committee of Experts predict it happen by 2023 while 45% by 2024 or later, according to Secretary General of UNWTO in December 2021. |
