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While it’s clear that the Trump Effect has had an impact on inbound travel to the U.S., it’s not only stateside where diplomatic disputes are spilling over into tourism flows. As our Asia Editor Peden Doma Bhutia explores in her latest feature, the political tensions across Asia of late have seen India boycott both Turkey and Azerbaijan and China throttle tourism to Japan (not long after doing the same for South Korea).
These targeted travel disruptions — led not only by states but by commercial enterprises keen to stay on the right side of local sentiment — cause rapid economic damage to destinations, benefiting rival markets that absorb redirected demand. International ruptures aren’t going away anytime soon, so this looks set to be the first chapter on a consistently inconsistent future for the region..
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Geopolitics no longer hovers in the background for travel, it shows up directly in booking numbers. It could be a diplomatic freeze, or a conflict nowhere near your destination. Demand vanishes or, almost worse, reroutes overnight to a competitor destination that was ready to catch it.

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The long-term story in Asia Pacific isn't ultra-luxury. It's the expanding middle class, moving up the travel ladder and willing to pay for it.
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