SOUTHEAST ASIA OPEN
With the big Chinese New Year holidays late this month, the mainland is also set to open the border with its special administrative region of Hong Kong on Sunday, for the first time in three years.
Ferry services between the city and the gambling hub of Macau will resume on the same day.
Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways said on Thursday it would more than double flights to mainland China. Flights to and from China remain at a tiny fraction of pre-COVID levels.
The WHO has warned that the holiday, which starts on Jan 21 and usually brings the biggest human migration on the planet as people head home from cities to visit families in small towns and villages, could spark another infection wave in the absence of higher vaccination rates and other precautions.
Authorities expect 2.1 billion passenger trips, by road, rail, water and air, over the holiday, double last year’s 1.05 billion journeys during the same period.
The transport ministry has urged people to be cautious to minimise the risk of infection for elderly relatives, pregnant women and infants.
One region poised to be a major beneficiary of China’s opening is Southeast Asia, where countries have not demanded that Chinese visitors take COVID-19 tests.
Except for airline wastewater testing by Malaysia and Thailand for the virus, the region’s 11 nations will treat Chinese travellers like any others.
As many as 76 per cent of Chinese travel agencies ranked Southeast Asia as the top destination when outbound travel resumed, according to a recent survey by trade show ITB China.
Many people in China have taken to social media to announce their travel plans but some remain wary.
“You want to see the world, but the world might not want to see you,” wrote one WeChat user from Tianjin city.
Source: CNA
