Thailand, one of the region’s most tourism-dependent economies, has benefited from a recovery in travel demand post-pandemic, but Chinese tourist arrivals have fallen below the initial official forecast for 2023. The number of deaths is expected to be at least 2 million fewer than the target of 7 million.
Tourists wait to check in for a flight at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport earlier this year. Thailand expects to fall far short of its goal of attracting 7 million Chinese tourists this year. Photo: Reuters Securities firm PT Bahana Securitas says Bali is one of Indonesia’s most popular holiday destinations, accounting for the majority of total foreign tourists, but amid a significant decline in tourists from China. Demand for luxury hotels decreased from January to May. Even in Singapore, which had believed its travel boom had averted a recession this year, the numbers disappointed. According to data from the city’s tourism bureau, there were a total of 310,901 Chinese tourists from January to May, compared to 1.55 million in the same period in 2019. Southeast Asia is not the only region where the number of Chinese tourists is decreasing. In Japan, the participation rate of Chinese tourists has also declined compared to before the pandemic. Still, a new group of shoppers is emerging to replace the once-dominant mainland consumers in the Asian country.
Japan is ‘flooded’ with tourists, but Chinese tourists have not returned yet
Retail giant Takashimaya recently announced that non-Chinese tourists accounted for nearly 70% of its total tourist sales from March to May, compared to just 20% before the pandemic.
The trend is a signal for Southeast Asian countries, including Malaysia, to do everything in their power to attract Chinese travelers this year as they diversify their target markets and end their dependence on tourists from the world’s second-largest economy. becomes.
Qiu, an employee of Guangzhou-based GZTC international travel agency, said there had been no significant improvement in summer tour bookings to Southeast Asian destinations by Chinese people from the first half of this year, citing regulations prohibiting him from speaking to the media. asked that only one name be used. .
Even in the most popular destinations such as Singapore and Malaysia, demand during the summer holidays was only about 30% of pre-pandemic levels, and in other regions such as Thailand it was 10%, he said.
Slowing growth in air flight capacity is also hampering the recovery of the tourism industry. Air transport capacity between China and the region has improved, but most routes remain well below pre-pandemic levels, with Singapore an outlier, according to data from aviation analytics firm Cirium.
Oversea-Chinese Bank economist Selena Lin expects Chinese tourist numbers to improve as China’s economy reopens in the early days
A lack of tour groups is also contributing to the slow recovery, according to Eric Chu of Bloomberg Intelligence. According to data from the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, only 1.6% of Chinese group tourists traveled abroad in the first quarter of this year, down from 30% in the same period in 2019.
However, countries and industry officials are optimistic that Chinese tourists will begin arriving in earnest in the second half of this year. Although current numbers are modest, a spokesperson for the Singapore Tourism Board said the country expects a continued increase in Chinese tourists.
“China is still early in reopening its economy,” said Serena Lin, chief economist at Oversea-Chinese Banking Company. “We expect Chinese tourist numbers to improve into the second half of 2023.” said.
