Convenient policies such as strong Chinese New Year flavor and visa-free travel have made many Chinese tourists choose Southeast Asian countries as Chinese New Year travel destinations.
The jubilant Chinese New Year and the significant rebound of Chinese tourists have ushered in a leaping start for Southeast Asia's tourism industry.
According to the People's ** Overseas Edition, the recovery momentum of tourism in Southeast Asia is strong. According to the data, during the 2024 Chinese New Year, the number of bookings from Chinese tourists to Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand increased significantly compared to the same period last year. Many countries in Southeast Asia have successively introduced visa-free policies and facilitation measures to welcome more Chinese tourists.
Chinese tourists are driving the tourism boom in Southeast Asia.
On the occasion of the Lunar New Year, Bangkok's Chinatown is bustling with red lanterns, jubilant dragon dances and bustling crowds, many of whom are from China.
Chinese New Year lion dance performance on the streets of Bangkok Figure GJ (the same below).
Convenient policies such as strong Chinese New Year flavor and visa-free travel have made many Chinese tourists choose Southeast Asian countries as Chinese New Year travel destinations. Alipay's outbound travel data shows that during the Spring Festival holiday, the amount spent by Chinese tourists in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand increased nearly sixfold compared to 2023. Among them, Thailand topped the list of consumption amounts, and Malaysia was the country with the largest increase in spending by Chinese tourists among the three countries.
Tourism analyst Gary Bowerman believes that Thailand has keenly captured the outbound travel demand of Chinese tourists through bilateral visa waivers and aggressive marketing to the Chinese market led by the Thai prime minister, and has incentivized Chinese airlines to increase relevant capacity during the Chinese New Year. He added that the surge in Chinese tourists to Thailand also indicates that China's outbound travel is recovering.
Since September last year, Thai Prime Minister Saitha Thaksin has embarked on measures to attract more Chinese tourists, including announcing temporary visa waivers to China. From September 25 to February 29, 2024, Chinese tourists can enter Thailand without applying for a visa and can stay in Thailand for no more than 30 days. With the signing of the agreement between China and Thailand on the mutual exemption of visas for ordinary passport holders, the short-term measure of visa exemption will become a permanent benefit from March 1 this year.
Nithie Seeprae, deputy governor of marketing at the Tourism Authority of Thailand, said the arrival of Chinese tourists was encouraging. "It was an exciting and very successful Chinese New Year. "Seeprae said that since February 1, we have received 27 to 280,000 (Chinese) tourists, almost back to the normal level before the pandemic. ”
Thailand** spokesman Chai Wacharonke said that from January 1 to February 8 this year, 4 million tourists arrived in the country, including more than 730,000 Chinese.
Chinese tourists take photos in front of Singapore's iconic Merlion statue.
trip.com is a ** travel agency under the Ctrip Group. Its Singaporean company, Edmund Ong, said bookings by Chinese tourists to Singapore during the Lunar New Year period surged 206 times compared to the same period last year. Nearly half of those bookings came from families, with the Singapore Zoo, Universal Studios Singapore theme park and city tours being among the most popular attractions.
From February 9 to 12, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia combined spent nearly sevenfold on Alipay, a Chinese mobile payment platform, and a 7-fold increase from 2019, according to Alipay data5%。
Take multiple measures to attract more Chinese tourists.
The "return" of Chinese tourists has helped Southeast Asia's tourism industry recover, and these countries have also successively introduced visa-free policies and facilitation measures to attract more Chinese tourists.
After Thailand and Malaysia successively implemented visa-free entry policies for Chinese citizens, Indonesia's Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy said that the country is considering implementing a visa-free entry policy for Chinese citizens.
Tourism Authority of Thailand Deputy Governor Nithie Seeprae has embarked on a new campaign to attract customers, engage in negotiations to expand new routes between China and Thailand, and coordinate influencers from China to experience Thailand. By the end of this year, there will be more than 8 million tourists from China.
It is reported that many airlines plan to add new routes or open additional flights. Vietnam Airlines added a new direct tourist route from Shanghai Pudong to Phu Quoc Island on January 19. Thai Airways will increase the frequency of flights between major Chinese cities and Bangkok from March 31, and the number of flights between Bangkok and Kunming and Chengdu will be increased from five and four to seven per week, respectively.
In Malaysia, Vietnam and other countries, some airports and tourist attractions have also added Chinese signs to make travel and sightseeing more convenient for Chinese tourists.
In addition, some Southeast Asian countries have cooperated with Chinese companies, and Chinese tourists can use Chinese mobile payment services such as WeChat and Alipay locally.
Produced by Deep Sea Studios.
Written by Deep Sea Shells.
Edited by Deep Sea Shells.