The world’s largest outbound tourism market, China, is not a part of Asia’s tourism revival plan as it is yet to relax the tight travel restrictions imposed to contain the Covid-19 pandemic.

A report by Reuters this week highlighted that although countries in Asia are gradually easing international travel restrictions to pull the region’s hard-hit tourism sector towards recovery, China is sitting out the recovery agenda as it sticks to zero tolerance for COVID-19.

Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Chief Executive Liz Ortiguera was quoted in the report stating that destinations will have to identify new source markets and learn how to market and cater to different cultures.

China had been its greatest source of tourists before the pandemic for nations such as the Maldives and even Sri Lanka, however, it is no longer the case.

While the string of islands in the Indian Ocean promoted itself heavily at trade shows, the report pointed out that the destinations attracted more Russian and Indian visitors.

ForwardKeys, a provider of comprehensive travel data, projected that it is only in 2025 that Chinese outbound travel will recover to pre-pandemic levels.

According to China Outbound Tourism Research Institute CEO Wolfgang Georg Arlt, the market is slowly changing since Chinese tourists in 2022 will be different from those who travelled in 2019.