If there is anything positive to come out of the economic crisis in Asia, it’s that traveling to the region has become a veritable bargain.
Airfares are down considerably and hotel rates are half what they were a year ago. Prices are especially low in countries like Korea and Thailand whose currencies have greatly depreciated.
“It is a bargain paradise,” said Penny Entin, president of Classic Cruise & Travel in Woodland Hills. “These are the lowest fares I have ever seen to Asia. I would say that everything is about 25 percent lower overall.”
Airfares are especially cheap.
A roundtrip ticket from Los Angeles to Bangkok or Singapore is as low as $500, compared with $900 a year ago. Fares to upscale destinations like Hong Kong are an even bigger bargain, going for as little as $500 roundtrip, vs. about $1,200 a year ago, according to John Jackson, manager of general marketing for Korean Air in Los Angeles.
“The countries are begging people to come over there,” said Jackson. “We have been saying all along, now is the time to travel to Asia. The prices have never been lower, and it won’t stay like this forever.”
The bargains are also prevalent in Japan, which had been notoriously expensive for years. For example, a steak dinner at one of the finer restaurants in Tokyo would have cost 5,000 yen (about $100 U.S.) more than a year ago. Today that same dinner still costs 5,000 yen, but that translates to only $32 U.S.
A night’s stay at one of the fancier hotels, like the Tokyo Imperial Hotel, cost 25,000 yen, which was previously about $475 U.S. but is now about $275, according to Mark Yoshimura, director of sales and planning for group tours at Japan Travel Bureau in Los Angeles.
Indonesia has also emerged as a land of bargains. A tour package to that country, including four nights’ stay and airfare, can run as low as $700. A year ago a similar package would have been triple that amount.
Hotel prices have been slashed, due to low occupancy levels and devalued currencies. Moderate-level hotel rooms can cost as little as $40 to $50 a night. Higher-end hotels like the Hilton in Bangkok and the Grand Hyatt in Jakarta have rooms for as little as $120 a night, less than half the $300 rates of a year ago, according to travel agents.
Other travel-related costs such as ground transportation, meals, gifts and tourist attractions are at bargain-basement levels in Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia and even Taiwan due to the strong U.S. dollar’s purchasing power, said Malcolm Jarrett, a corporate travel agent for Sundance Travel in Santa Monica.
Meals, electronic items and jewelry can be fetched at prices 30 percent lower than a year ago.
“People who are traveling to Asia are getting incredible deals,” said Jarrett. “On a normal year, it can be very difficult to get a room or a flight to Asia. But no one is traveling there because of the situation. Companies are desperate for business.”
Not everyone is getting a deal, however. Business-class airfares have remained stagnant. Many companies allow their executives to fly business class on extended flights, so those areas are still full. A business-class fare to Seoul goes for $6,000 roundtrip.
“The airlines can still make money on the Asian market with business travelers,” said Jarrett. “So long as they are filling the seats, the fares will stay high.”
