Asian tourists to resume international travel at pre-pandemic levels by 2024

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Asian tourists to resume international travel at pre-pandemic levels by 2024

BANGKOK Asian tourists are expected to resume international travel at pre-pandemic levels by the end of 2024, the new chief executive of online travel agency Agoda said late on Monday.

After the COVID 19 restrictions are lifted to travel confidently, the Asia-focused company expects tourists from Asian countries, excluding China, to take about six months, said Omri Morgenshtern, who took over the helm at Agoda in July.

Korea opened up two months ago, but numbers are 40 per cent less than what it was before, so it's not jumping, he said.

In Asia, Agoda's booking volumes have returned to 2019 levels, but more so in domestic travel, Morgenshtern told Reuters in an interview, in contrast to the stronger and quicker tourism recovery in the United States and Europe.

In the U.S. or Europe, it's almost like everyone decided COVID was over, said Morgenshtern, noting that travel resumed quickly there and many stopped wearing masks.

Even though mandates were dropped, people in many Asian countries like Thailand, South Korea, Singapore, and Indonesia have kept masks on.

Agoda is rolling out more products in order to allow customers to plan their entire travel itinerary on the platform with the promise of more discounts, Morgenshtern said.

In 2020, the company, a unit of Booking Holdings Inc, slashed 1,500 jobs in order to cut spending because of the pandemic. He said that headcount returned to pre-COVID levels.