Southeast Asia’s tourism industries can look forward to a boost from China’s newly opened borders, according to Reuters. In contrast to other nations worldwide who are asking for various Covid-19 travel requirements from Chinese arrivals, the test-free Southeast Asian destinations offer low stress alternatives.
The world’s second largest economy and most populous nation at 1.45 billion, China lifted its travel ban on Sunday 8 January. Australia, Britain, Europe, India, Japan and the USA are included in the list of countries requiring a negative Covid test for incoming Chinese travellers. Among the Southeast Asian nations, only Thailand and Malaysia are implementing any precautionary measures, in the shape of diagnostic checks on airplane wastewater.
As the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents undertakes a roadshow in Chinese cities to “woo visitors”, Malaysian Prime Minister, Anwar Ibrahim, was at pains to downplay the wastewater testing. “We are not taking the stance of discriminating (against) any countries,” he said. He will be acutely aware that the rest of his region, from Singapore and Indonesia to Cambodia, is taking an even more relaxed approach, one likely to appeal to the first wave of post-Covid travellers from China seeking hassle-free getaways.
Defending the lack of Covid restrictions on Chinese arrivals, Singapore has cited its own high levels of immunity and vaccination, Bali’s plan is to offer booster vaccinations for its workers, and China-friendly Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has gone as far as accusing worried nations of scary anti-Covid ‘propaganda’.
But for Cambodia, it’s an invitation to Chinese people: Chinese tourists, come to Cambodia.
Hun Sen, Cambodian Prime Minister
Even before testing requirements were made public, Chinese tourists appeared to be showing a preference for Southeast Asian destinations. Data released in December by trade show ITB China, indicates up to 76% of Chinese travel agencies ranked Southeast Asia as the number one post-Covid destination.
The area, whose idyllic beaches, luxury shopping and gambling venues have historically benefitted from mass tourism from China, will be glad to see their return. Chinese travellers, 155 million of them, spent 254.6 billion dollars abroad in 2019, almost the GDP of Vietnam. The impact of that in Southeast Asia is told in figures. Vietnam welcomed 6 million of them, a third of its annual visitor count. Twenty percent of Singapore’s international arrivals were from China and they spent over 900 million dollars.
Any significant growth is set for the second quarter of 2023, according to a Citi analysis, with Thailand and Malaysia predicting Chinese visitors to arrive in about half their pre-pandemic numbers.
