South-East Asia feels the burn as virus keeps Chinese tourists at home

Vendors waiting for customers at the main tourist market in Luang Prabang. Elephant parks unvisited, curios at markets unsold as tuk-tuks sit idle; the Mekong is absorbing billions of dollars of losses from a collapse in Chinese tourism since the outbreak of the deadly Covid-19 novel coronavirus. - AFP

LUANG PRABANG: Elephant parks unvisited, curios at markets unsold as tuk-tuks sit idle: South-East Asia is facing billions of dollars in losses from a collapse in Chinese tourism since the outbreak of Covid-19 (coronavirus) epidemic.

From Luang Prabang in northern Laos to Pattaya in Thailand, Hoi An in Vietnam and the Cambodian casino town of Sihanoukville, takings have plummeted as Chinese travellers find themselves subject to a host of restrictions at home and abroad.