Chinese tourists have provided a much-needed boost to tourism figures across Southeast Asia and in other parts of the world, according to various sources scrutinising the impact of the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday.
In a post-Covid surge fuelled by a number of new visa waiver deals, destinations that had been suffering from the slump in Chinese visitors, have seen a notable uptick – one that HSBC predicts will continue “despite the macroeconomic headwinds”. This is because “Chinese citizens are still willing to spend on travel-related experiences” bank researchers said, forecasting that “travel-related spending could continue to outpace [this] overall domestic consumption.”
Southeast Asia
Among the countries that have benefited from Chinese arrivals, according to Trip.com, are Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand, whose combined figures were up 30% over 10-17 February compared with 2019 (when the New Year period lasted one day less). Payments reported by mobile platform Aliplay went up 7.5% compared to 2019, and were seven times greater than last year.
Travel platform LY.com reports Bangkok tripling its hotel bookings year-on-year and said that Singapore welcomed nine times as many visitors as the same time last year.
Thailand’s tourism authority has confirmed that Chinese arrivals (244,000 of them) beat targets and that spending was up by 7.3 billion baht (187 million euros) year-on-year.
Casino tourism
Hong Kong, Japan, Macao, and South Korea have also seen an increase in Chinese visitors. Hong Kong’s Chief Executive John Lee celebrated more than 1.2 million Chinese visitors over Lunar New Year.
Macao’s status as the only place where the Chinese can legally gamble gave it a helping hand, bringing in more than a million Chinese tourists over the holiday, with average hotel occupancy rates reaching 95%, according to official data. JP Morgan forecast daily gross gaming revenues for the height of the break would reach $124 million for the first time in more than four years.
Fewer groups, more individuals
However, some destinations, including South Korea, complained that with more Chinese visitors choosing to travel individually rather than in guided groups, spending was down. One Seoul travel agent noted, “With drops in the number of group tourists, we don’t get to see Chinese tourists carrying big shopping bags anymore.”
In line with a trend for more individual travel and fewer groups perhaps, Alipay notes that overall Chinese tourists paid out 70% more on food and beverages, compared with pre-Covid levels. Similarly, overseas car rentals were up over 50% and spending on sightseeing trips was up 130%, according to Trip.com.
