Issue #113 - All Eyes on Thailand As South East Asian Tourism Begins Vital H2 of 2023!
Issue #113 - All Eyes on Thailand As South East Asian Tourism Begins Vital H2 of 2023!
Thailand’s interplay with China & India will shape the region's tourism recovery.
Welcome to issue 113 of Asia Travel Re:Set.
This week brings 3 overlapping markers for South East Asia’s tourism recovery.
Yesterday, 1 July, marked one year since Thailand - the region’s most-visited nation - removed its remaining pandemic entry restrictions.
Tomorrow, 3 July, Thailand’s parliament reconvenes and a 2-month process to name a new Prime Minister and government nears conclusion. The in-tray for a new Tourism Minister is piling up.
Next Saturday, 8 July, marks 6 months since China - South East Asia’s largest visitor market, which contributed 22.5% of visitors to the region in 2019 - reopened for travel.
So let’s follow that train of thought…
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- “IN THE NEWS”
- All Eyes on Thailand As South East Asian Tourism Begins Vital H2 of 2023!
Thailand’s interplay with China & India will shape the region's tourism recovery.
- SuperApps Scale Up to Sell More South East Asian Travel
In conversation with Jakarta-based Brett Henry, President of MG Group.
“IN THE NEWS”
Hyper-scale aircraft orders by Air India & IndiGo could shake up the post-pandemic air order, although both are long-term plays. This detailed piece by Biman Mukherji for South China Morning Post assesses the implications for aviation in India, South East Asia, the Middle East and beyond - with comments by Mayur Patel, Shukor Yusof, Shantanu Gangakhedkar and myself. Click to Read HERE.
“Even though circumstances were very difficult for three years, the demand for self-drive in China was beyond our imaginations." I caught up with Ben Li, Founder & CEO of Zuzuche, China’s leading outbound car rental platform, to discuss its plans for 2023 and beyond, a partnership with OTA Fliggy, and Chinese self-drive tourists’ needs and desires at home and abroad for Travel Weekly Asia. Click to Read HERE.
All Eyes on Thailand As South East Asian Tourism Begins Vital H2 of 2023!
It’s the golf course, isn’t it?
Landing at Don Mueang for the first time in 4 years reminded me how Bangkok grabs you at first sight. Watching golfers drive, pitch and putt on a manicured course located between the runways is among the world’s most surreal arrival experiences.
Last week, I spent 4 days reacquainting myself with the Thai capital and observing its tourism recovery. South East Asia’s most diverse, energetic and popular capital is leading Thailand’s charge to dominate regional tourism once again.
Tourism Confidence Declines in Q2
The above (rather gloomy) headline by Bangkok Post (1 July) underpins regional concern about the slower than expected outbound rebound so far from China. I’ve been speaking to travel industry executives in China over the past couple of weeks, and some are revising downward their 2023 forecasts for airline capacity - although this is largely due to long-haul factors. Without doubt, H2 of 2023 will bring many more Chinese visitors to South East Asia than the first half.
Meanwhile, the World Bank was bullish this week about Thailand’s overall outlook:
“Thailand's economy is projected to accelerate to 3.9 percent in 2023 from 2.6 percent last year due to stronger-than-expected demand from China, Europe, and the United States, private consumption growth, and a recovery in tourism.”
By mid-June, Thailand had welcomed 11.4 million visitors in 2023 – beating its 2022 total of 11.15 million. Recently, Thailand’s tourism authority forecast 25-30 million visitors this year, and 30-35 million in 2024.
No other country in South East Asia would get anywhere near those figures, although both rely heavily on Chinese traffic.
Indian Airlines Carry More Tourists to Thailand… But…
In 2022, India was the largest source of visitors in Asia, according to ITB Berlin & IPK International. Thailand was the 3rd most popular destination for Indian travellers, after Dubai and the US. Singapore placed #5.
China was, of course, essentially closed in 2022. The volume of Indian visitors into South East Asia is rising fast, but China will reclaim its #1 market status this year. The gap between China and India could narrow over the coming years, but perhaps not by as much as is sometimes forecast.
Why?
Take a look at the 2 Departure Boards above and below (showing different flight gate ranges) at Don Mueang on Sunday 25 June. Flights departed to Zhengzhou, Chongqing, Ningbo, Xi’an, Nanjing, Changsha, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Guiyang, Wuhan, Changzhou, Hangzhou and Shanghai in China, compared to Mumbai, Bengaluru, Lucknow and Jaipur in India.
Travellers worldwide may be familiar with Air India and Indigo - not least because of their recent record-breaking aircraft orders - but perhaps less so with the liveries of Qingdao Airlines, Shenzhen Airlines, Spring Airlines and 9Air from China, which were viewable across the Don Mueang apron.
The Chinese and Indian aviation sectors are structured very differently. Concentrated flight capacity into South East Asia by centrally based Air India and IndiGo contrasts with a variety of regional Chinese airlines. Don Mueang highlights this factor.
In 2019, China provided 10.99 million of Thailand’s 39.9 million visitors, compared to 1.99 million from India. Extrapolated across the 10 countries of ASEAN, China provided 32.3 million visitors versus 5.2 million from India.
That is a gigantic gap to bridge.
Easy Visas, Young Travellers & Luxury Boutique Lines
From spending time at the airports and on the ground in Phuket (twice) and Bangkok in recent weeks, Chinese tourists are clearly returning in larger volumes. As a leading Chinese OTA executive told me this week, the speed of turnaround for visa approval encourages more Chinese to take short trips to Thailand - and airlines to add capacity.
This is a key (and not especially new) learning for destinations wishing to attract Chinese tourists. Make. It. As. Simple. As. Possible.
Bangkok is reaping the rewards, with a noticeably young Chinese visitor demographic and those roped waiting lines outside luxury boutiques reappearing in the capital’s malls after a long 3 years.
SuperApps Scale Up to Sell More South East Asian Travel
What are SuperApps? How are they evolving? Why should the travel industry care?
This week, we are joined by Jakarta-based Brett Henry, President of MG Group, to discuss the opportunities and challenges SuperApps bring to travel.
We assess various Asian SuperApps, including GoTo, Grab, WeChat, Meituan and Shopee, and touch on AirAsia’s SuperApp progress. Plus, we address hyper-localisation and the economics of distributing travel through SuperApps.
And… “Is TikTok the next SuperApp in South East Asia?” (Spoiler alert: Oh, Yes).
Listen to SuperApps Scale Up to Sell More South East Asian Travel, with Brett Henry, MG Group, here:
🎧 Website 🎧 Spotify 🎧 Apple Podcasts
Or search for The South East Asia Travel Show on any podcast platform
And, that’s a wrap for Issue 113.
The Asia Travel Re:Set newsletter will return on 16 July.
Until then, find me on LinkedIn and at The South East Asia Travel Show.
Happy travels,
Gary