The Coronavirus epidemic in China could cause Asia’s tourism sector to lose over 100 billion dollars, according to an estimate by economists at the Dutch bank ING.

Hotels, restaurants, stores, airlines and other businesses related to tourism in many Asian countries will lose sizeable chunks of their earnings now that Chinese are travelling increasingly less and potential visitors are being advised against going to China.

Based on different scenarios, the ING believes the Asian tourism sector could see its turnover shrink by 105 to 115 billion dollars this year.

In addition to China itself, affected countries include Thailand, Japan, South Korea and Vietnam.

While it is still too early to gauge the extent of the epidemic, its impact is already considerable just two months after the virus was first diagnosed, the bank noted, explaining that entire Chinese regions are simply cut off from the rest of the world and travel between China and other parts of Asia is now much rarer.

Oscar Schneider

The Brussels Times