Chinese tourists to Southeast Asian countries increase 1026%

With the adjustment of mainland China’s entry and exit policy, the cross-border travel market is picking up with embassies and tourism boards across the world targeting Chinese tourists aiming to attract them back to visit their countries.

Mainland Chinese demand for travel overall continues to surge in the lead-up to the Lunar New Year holiday season. This is according to trip.com group and comes after the decision last month by mainland China to officially abolish all quarantine restrictions for inbound visitors from January 8.

Since the announcement on December 26, 2022, a huge increase in searches and the volume of travel bookings have taken place a trip.com. On its Chinese language travel service platform Ctrip, between December 26, 2022, and January 5, 2023, search interest for outbound flights from mainland China increased by 83% compared to the 2-week period prior, with outbound flight bookings increasing by 59% over the same period. The most popular cross-border destinations include Macau, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, Australia, Singapore, the United States, Malaysia, the United Kingdom, and Indonesia.

Outbound bookings for trips during the upcoming Lunar New Year holidays in China have grown significantly. Overseas travel for the 7-day Lunar New Year holiday surged by 540% compared to last year’s Spring Festival, and the average cost of bookings was revealed to have risen by 32% year-on-year.

As of January 12, 2023, overall travel bookings of mainland Chinese tourists to Southeast Asian countries increased by 1026% compared with the same period last year. The number of air ticket bookings from mainland China to Southeast Asia increased by 864% year-on-year, and the top 5 most popular destination countries for mainland Chinese tourists traveling to Southeast Asia during the Lunar New Year holiday are Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia, and Indonesia.

The number of mainland tourists traveling to Singapore for the Lunar New Year holiday increased by 499% year-on-year, while Malaysia saw an increase of 584% year-on-year.