In 2019, China was the largest feeder market to many destinations in Asia Pacific and the globe, reaching 155 million outbound travellers.1
While the border reopened later than any other major economy, the number of Chinese outbound travellers seemed to be returning rapidly to over 87 million in 2023, according to a report by China Tourism Academy in early 2024. However, it might be too early to call it a strong recovery for Chinese outbound travellers.
The number of Chinese travellers across 13 markets we tracked in Asia Pacific started to show signs of recovery in late 2022, except Hong Kong SAR and Macau SAR, because of the special travel arrangements prior to the official reopening. To facilitate the return of Chinese travellers, some countries announced visa-waivers for Chinese travellers and expanded marketing campaigns on Chinese social media.
In view of economic development and the weakening yuan, as well as challenges in obtaining new passports, many Chinese choose domestic destinations for their next holidays. Overall, Chinese outbound travellers were back but with different travel behaviour, and the recovery pace varied between figures.
Maldives, Korea, and Singapore are the top three destinations with the strongest recovery in Chinese travellers in July, as well as year-to-date figures. On the other hand, Macau and Hong Kong were struggling to bring back Chinese travellers at the same volume as in 2019/2018.
Some Southeast Asian countries were also hoping for the return of Chinese travellers. For example, Thailand now welcomes Chinese travellers with a visa-free policy, but negative news on social media, namely the shooting last October and rumours of human trafficking, slowed down the recovery.
Unlike the mass tourism days prior to the pandemic, Chinese travellers are now looking for a better travel experience, and luxury destinations have particularly benefited from the return of these Chinese high spenders. At the same time, another major segment of travellers is managing their expenditures more carefully.
With the rise of Duty-Free shopping on Hainan Island, shopping is now at a much lower priority than it used to be. Experiences are most sought after.
Overall, the recovery of Chinese inbound travellers was slower than the overall recovery in most of the markets, with the exception of Korea. The table below shows the recovery path of all travellers and Chinese travellers in selected countries and regions in year-to-date and monthly figure in July 2024.
The table below presents the market share of Chinese travellers in selected countries and regions from year-to-date through July 2019 and 2024.
While most markets have yet to see the expected return of Chinese travellers, China became the largest feeder market for many of the destinations, including the Maldives, Korea, and Singapore.
At the same time,some countries and regions now register more diverse feeder markets than pre-pandemic. Once heavily relied on Chinese travellers, Cambodia’s top two feedermarkers are now Thailand and Vietnam.
The key factor affecting the return of Chinese travellers remains connectivity, as only direct flights between China and Siam Reap are available to Kunming. Additionally, visa-on-arrival is still required for Chinese citizens. As a result, Chinese travellers are yet to return to Cambodia at the levels registered in 2019.
Taiwan, on the other hand, also sees a significant decline in travellers from China due to the tension across the Taiwan Strait, but the shift of feeder markets pushed the island to diversify its feeder market after the pandemic.
Altogether, China remains a key tourism feeder market for many countries and regions in Asia Pacific. However, the recovery is not balanced between destinations. Other factors include the macroeconomic development in the medium to long term, as well as the ease of travel, from visa policy, over passport issuances, to connectivity.
So, are Chinese travellers back? Well, they’re on their way, but not at the same pace as in 2019.
1 - Ministry of Culture and Tourism of PRC
AP Hospitality Advisors serves owners, investors, developers, operators and lenders of hospitality assets across Asia-Pacific. The team blends expertise in operations, real estate and finance to support any critical step in the asset life-cycle.
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