Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, Palau had around 118,000 visitors a year. Tourism was the main industry in the country. This year, less than 10,000 people visited the country.
Many other countries in Asia and the Pacific region are in the same situation. Governments have not been able to attract tourists.
The number of international tourists and hotel occupancy rates in Asia are still much lower than before the pandemic. However, some places in Europe like France and Greece had a lot of visitors this summer. France had more hotel visitors than in 2019.
In some countries, the tourism industry has been hurt by strict Covid-19 measures. Recently, some governments have started to lift restrictions to make travel easier.
Even in Asian and Pacific region countries that lifted Covid-19 restrictions early, the number of visitors is still low.
Thailand is expected to reach 10 million tourists this year compared to 40 million in 2019. Bali, one of the most popular travel destinations in the world, had 276,000 foreign tourists in August 2022 compared to 606,000 in August 2019.
Regarding Japan, experts say that spending by foreign tourists will not reach pre-pandemic numbers until 2025.
In Australia, the number of foreign visitors each month is still about one million less than before the pandemic. Summer in the southern hemisphere is starting and some people hope that the warm weather will attract tourists.
VOCABULARY
- Prior – coming before in a timeline; previous; last; earlier; preceding
- Pandemic – when a disease or sickness goes all over the country or world
- Tourism – traveling for recreation/fun; the business of providing services like transport, places to stay, or entertainment for people who are on holiday
- Industry – business field; area of work or business; type of business
- Situation – condition; circumstance; state of affairs; the way it is;
- Attract – to cause something to come toward something else; to pull or draw someone or something towards them
- Occupancy – the act/process of using a room, building, or land, usually for a period of time; use; tenancy; residency
- Rate – the amount of something; the number of times something happens in a particular period; percentage; figures
- Strict – severe; harsh; no flexibility; exact; strong
- Measure(s) – plan; procedure; an action; a step
- Lift – to end a rule or law; cancel; remove
- Restriction – an official rule that limits what you can do; regulation; limitation
- Expect – to think something will happen; forecast; predict; suppose
- Destination – the place a person travels to; the place something is sent to; target location; last stop; goal
- Foreign – from another country; something from outside of your country; belonging or connected to a country that is not your own
- Regarding – in relation to; about; with respect to; with regard to; as for
- Expert – a person with great knowledge and experience in a trade or profession
- Spending – the act of giving money for goods and services; the action of paying money
- Reach – hit; achieve; make it to; attain;
- Pre- – previous to; before
Original story from the Guardian below:
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