Tourism is a pillar of the Thai economy and contributes some 9% to its GDP. Thailand’s Ministry of Tourism and Sports expects around 38 million tourists to travel to Thailand this year, of which about 10 million will come from China. In fact, the number of Chinese tourists to Thailand reached a record peak of 1.2 million in February 2018, boosted by the annual Spring Festival and its week-long holiday.

Due to its location and convenience, Thailand has always been a popular destination for Chinese tourists going abroad. However, this recent history has not been without ups and downs; in 2016, Thailand’s government launched a campaign to revamp its tourism industry, putting a large number of low-cost tour providers out of business, which affected many companies with Chinese investment or targeting Chinese tourists.

The price of group tours to Thailand increased that year, and the number of visitors to Thailand declined. With the more recent relaxation of these restrictions, however, the number of Chinese tourists visiting Thailand has risen over the past two years.

Last year, Chinese tourists numbered some 9.8 million and generated more than 520 billion Baht (104.7 billion Yuan, US$16.46 billion). TripAdvisor recently published a report showing that young Chinese, most especially those between 26 and 35 years old, are the primary driver behind Chinese tourism to Thailand.

Also read: China mobile app user insights 2018

In the first half of 2017, the number of Chinese who went to Japan exceeded 3.282 million, showing an increase of 6.67%. Compared to the growth rate of more than 20% in the past two years, growth significantly slowed down.

In the first half of 2017, Chinese travellers in Korea dropped by 40.97% to 2.253 million. However, the total number of Chinese passengers to Southeast Asia (SEA) soared, exceeding 10 million people in half a year. Therefore, it can be assumed that there is a shift in the travel demand from Japan and South Korea to countries in SEA.

Chinese Tourism to Thailand 

In September 2016, since Thailand rectified its “zero tour fees” policy, with the addition of the king’s passing, China’s tourism market to Thailand was impacted. In the first half of 2017, recovery is seen for China’s tourism market in Thailand, hitting about 4.712 million people, only down slightly by 3.8%.

From the Sino-Thai aviation market’s observation, regardless of the impact of the Spring Festival factors, the capacity from January-July 2017 has already exceeded the same period in 2016. Looking to the second half of 2017, despite the late Thailand king’s funeral in October 2017 which is likely to impact the industry, the number of Chinese tourists in Thailand is still likely to exceed last year, having a breakthrough of 9 million people.

Chinese Tourists to Cambodia 

In recent years, the number of Chinese travellers to Cambodia has grown steadily. In 2016, 830,000 Chinese travellers visited Cambodia, an increase of 19.47%. In the first half of 2017, Cambodia received 2.66 million international tourists, an increase of 12.8%, of which Chinese tourists accounted for 530,000 tourists, an increase of 39.9%.

From the current trend, the number of Chinese tourists to Cambodia is expected to exceed 1 million people in 2017. It is also worth mentioning that, with the continued warming of Sino-Cambodian relations, the number of business travellers to Cambodia has increased rapidly.

Chinese Tourists to Vietnam

From January-July 2017, the number of Chinese travellers in Vietnam is 2.217 million people, a substantial increase of 51%, with Vietnam becoming the most travelled to the destination in SEA for Chinese tourists. In the second half of 2017, if Sino-Vietnamese relations are stable, the total number of Chinese travellers in Vietnam in the entire year is expected to have a breakthrough of 4 million people.

Chinese Tourists to Singapore

Currently, Singapore only has the numbers from January-May 2017, whereby the number of Chinese tourists in Singapore reached 1.335 million, an increase of 6.67%. Following Singapore Airlines Air Navigation and Tiger Airways’ complete integration, there are plans to continue to expand China Airlines’ routes. From the observation of current trends, the number of Chinese travellers in Singapore in 2017 is expected to exceed 3 million people.

Chinese Tourists to Malaysia 

Currently, Malaysia has also only released numbers from January-May 2017, and the number of Chinese tourists in Malaysia reached 905,300, an increase of 7.79%. From the current market situation, the number of Chinese passengers travelling to Malaysia has been restored to the number pre-“Malaysia Airlines” incident.

Benefitting from China and ASEAN’s open sky policy and low-cost aviation development, the aviation market between China and ASEAN countries continue to grow. There is also a trend of development towards small countries (eg. Brunei) and small cities (eg. Hat Yai, Cambodia).

Since the market size is expanded, competition is heightened, and even small charter companies tried to adopt the China aviation route. In the open market system, however, continued efforts are still required to promote the healthy development of the aviation market and to have orderly competition.

The National Day holiday in China is the last holiday of the year and the longest one with 7 days starting on 1 October. China Railway is about to receive 110 million person trips during this year’s National Day holiday, an increase of 11.3% compared with 2015.

This short video, shot today (National Day) at Great Wall of China, illustrates how crowded it could be during holidays in China pic.twitter.com/4hY8Sqf84q

— China Internet Watch (@ChinaInternet) October 3, 2016

It’s peak season for the tourism industry. People travel, domestic or abroad. Among outbound travelers, the most popular destinations remain Thailand, South Korea, and Japan.

The number of person trips totaled 2.236 billion in the first half of 2016 with an increase of 10.5% YoY according to China’s National Tourism Administration. Safety, sightseeing, dining, visa, and currency are top factors when Chinese outbound travelers choose the destination.

Read more: https://www.chinainternetwatch.com/18860/chinese-intl-traveler-2016/#ixzz4Ld1Uhtw8

Alipay launched Global Future Airports Program this week, aiming to provide not only payment solutions but also convenient services for travelers. From this Saturday, the National Day, the cooperating airports will be opened to Alipay users including:

• Munich Airport
• Tokyo Narita International Airport
• Singapore Changi International Airport
• Osaka Kansai International Airport
• Seoul Incheon International Airport
• Auckland International Airport
• Bangkok International Airport
• Hong Kong International Airport
• Taoyuan International Airport
• Macau International Airport

Alipay has been making efforts for overseas markets in recent years; and, as of August 2016, Alipay is available at over 80,000 retail stores outside China.

WeChat Payment is offering cash rebate (in the form of Hongbao, red envelope) if outbound travelers use WeChat Payment in cooperating oversea retail stores.

With the growing number of the middle class, China’s outbound travel spend will be near twice the amount of the U.S. ($134 billion), reaching $255.4 billion by 2025 according to a joint survey by Visa and Oxford Economics.

Continue reading: China outbound tourism market overview 2016

The number of Chinese tourists to Thailand reached 4.9 million person-trips in the first half of 2016, accounting for almost 30% of total inbound travelers according to Tourism Authority of Thailand.

Despite the safety warnings from the Chinese embassy in Thailand, Chinese travelers kept their enthusiasm visiting Thailand. A total number of Chinese travelers to Thailand is estimated to exceed 10 million person-trips.

Tourism brought in 2.8 trillion baht in Thailand in 2015, representing 21% of total GDP. At least one-quarter of inbound travelers’ total spend came from Chinese tourists.

Alipay payment is available in over nine thousand 7-Eleven convenient stores in Thailand. Thai tourism board also worked with Baidu this June and launched Chinese map of Thailand.

The number of China’s total outbound tourists has increased from 47.66 million in 2009 to 120 million in 2015; the growth rate was 12.1%. Southeast Asia, Japan, South Korea the most popular destinations for Chinese travelers in 2016. Read more here.

A total number of 220 million Chinese residents will travel overseas with a total spend of $450 billion in 2025 , up from 120 million residents spending $250 billion in 2015 according to Goldman Sachs’ report.

120 million Chinese tourists will travel overseas in 2015, with 70 million traveling to Hong Kong/Macau, around 5 million to Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, 12 million to ASEAN, and 2 million to the US; and, two thirds of current outbound travelers are millennials (15-35 years old), estimated by Goldman Sachs.

70 million Chinese travelers who visited Hong Kong and Macau in 2015, where it doesn’t require a passport but a permit to enter.

Only 4% people in China currently holds a passport and this figure are expected to reach 12% within 10 years. The number of travel-ready millennials who will graduate from Chinese universities in the next 10
will reach 74 million.

The number of Chinese residents who will visit Japan will reach 16 million in 2025, up from 5 million in 2015. The average cost of a package tour to Japan is $2,000, including money spent on shopping ($1,000). Korea, Australia and Europe are also expected to become tourist hot spots.

Also read: China Travel Market Overview for Q4 2015

As of 31 December 2015, the number of travel agencies in China reached 27,621 according to China National Tourism Administration.

The top ten inbound traveler regions by the total number of person trips are Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Macau, the U.S., Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, Thailand and Russia.

China travel agencies organized a total number of 42.18 million person trips and received 45.29 million person trips in Q4 2015, an increase of 14.68% and 14.59% YoY.

Jiangsu (17%), Shanghai (9%), and Zhejiang (9%) are the top 3 travel destinations in China in Q4 2015.

Southeast Asia countries are among China’s most popular outbound tourism destinations, accounting for 27% of total person-trips in Q4 2015.

Also read: China Travel Insights for Chinese New Year 2016

Chinese tourists paid 7,934,700 person-trips visits to Thailand in 2015 with an annual increase of 91.62% which has set a new record according to Tourism Authority of Thailand.

Thailand is rich and diverse in culture and tourism resources and has been one of the most favorite outbound destinations of Chinese tourists. China was the largest travel origin of Thailand and over 4.6 million Chinese tourists traveled to Thailand in 2014.

The top three tourist origin countries of Thailand were China, Malaysia, and Japan with about 8 million, 3 million people, and 1.4 million person-trips in 2015. Foreign tourists visiting Thailand are expected to reach 1 million people during the Chinese Spring Festival in early Feb 2016 and nearly half of them come from China, Singapore, Malaysia and other countries.

Foreign tourist visiting Thailand in 2015 reached 29.88 million person-trips in 2015 and the number is expected to reach 32 million people with an annual increase of 7% according to Ministry of Tourism Authority of Thailand.

Thai Airways will launch flights from Kunming to Chiang Mai and the flight will serve 36,000 airline seats per month in 2016 according to Tourism Authority of Thailand. Chinese tourists visiting Thailand are expected to reach 8.2 million person-trips in 2016.

Also read: China Outbound Travelers Shopping Overview 2015