20221220 AI ASEAN aiming away from overtourism img main

In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, tourist arrivals in Asia are expected to return to 2019 levels next year -- putting at risk once again the region's rich environmental and cultural heritage. © Illustration by Hiroko Oshima

Can ASEAN avoid overtourism as arrivals return to pre-COVID levels?

Governments struggle toward a more sustainable and equitable hospitality sector

NANA SHIBATA, KOSUKE INOUE and ISMI DAMAYANTI, Nikkei staff writers

December 20, 2022 06:01 JST

LABUAN BAJO, Indonesia/PHI PHI, Thailand -- Finally getting to meet a Komodo dragon, the world's biggest lizard, was on the verge of becoming a much more costly proposition in January -- and that was causing huge anxiety to people living and working with the creature in the only place it is found, Indonesia's Sunda Islands.