Issue #118 - Thailand Triggers Asia Pacific's Scramble for Chinese Tourists!
Tourism competition is heating up across the region for the end-of-year travel season.
Welcome to issue 118 of Asia Travel Re:Set.
The most important season of the most important year in South East Asian tourism since 2019 is nearing.
Chinese Golden Week, which kickstarts the lucrative end-of-year travel season, is 2 weeks away. Lunar New Year in February will bookend a 5-month period that the travel industry hopes will reshape the region’s recovery.
On Monday, I was at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand in Bangkok for a panel discussing Make or Break? What the Slow Return of Chinese Tourists Means to the Tourism Industry in Thailand.
In 2019, Thailand attracted more Chinese visitors (10.99 million) than any destination, except Hong Kong and Macau. This year, it is targeting 5 million, with elevated expectations for 2024.
So let’s follow that train of thought…
Thanks for checking-in.
- “IN THE NEWS”
- Thailand Triggers Asia Pacific’s Scramble for Chinese Tourists!
Thailand’s new government waives visas for Chinese tourists. Why now?
- Behind the Scenes of Australia’s Tourism Transformation Plan
In conversation with Samantha Palmer, GM of Visitor Economy at AusTrade.
“IN THE NEWS”
On Thursday, I enjoyed joining the monthly OAG Webinar with John Grant & Deirdre Fulton. We assessed the latest aviation data from around the world, took stock of the summertime learnings in air travel and tourism - and discussed China’s imprint on the upcoming travel season in Asia Pacific. Click HERE to watch both webinars (the morning session focused more on Asia / afternoon session Europe/US + Asia).
On Thursday, I’ll be speaking at the UNWTO Global Tourism Economy Forum (20-23 September) in Macau. Really looking forward to joining Xu Jing, Vice Chairman of the Global Tourism Economy Research Centre, on stage to discuss The New Features of Chinese Outbound Tourism. Check out the conference programme HERE.
Thailand Triggers South East Asia’s Scramble for Chinese Tourists!
"Thailand is like a sick person... Tourism and spending are recovering so slowly that there is the risk of economic recession."
Inaugural Prime Ministerial addresses are position-setting exercises. This week, Thailand’s new PM, Sretta Thavisin, chose shock-tactic terminology. He posited the economy as close to meltdown, and chose tourism as its beacon of revitalisation.
This reflects current realities. Global demand for Thai exports is unlikely to improve in the near term. Meanwhile, Thailand is about to enter its peak tourism season.
Thailand is a prolific setter of tourism arrivals targets. The PM reiterated this year’s goal of 28 million visitors generating revenue of THB2.38 trillion. He then upped the ante, reprising the hallowed 40 million arrivals milestone for 2024, which Thailand narrowly missed (39.9 million) in 2019.
As noted in Issue #113, no other nation in South East Asia will get near to those figures. Just as in 2019, Chinese tourism is central to achieving Thailand’s targets.
Stimulating Chinese Tourism Demand
Thailand believes it can attract around 5 million Chinese visitors this year - it needs 2.7 million of those to arrive between now and 31 December - but requires a stimulus.
This week, the new Thai government announced a temporary visa waiver for Chinese visitors (and from Kazakhstan, plus citizens of various countries already eligible). Visa-free entry for Chinese citizens spans (for now) the aforementioned key travel season from 29 September (Mid-Autumn Festival) to 29 February 2024.
“During the five-month visa exemption period, Thailand is expected to welcome 1,912,000 to 2,888,500 Chinese tourists,” forecasts the Tourism Authority of Thailand.
“The visa waiver program will strongly stimulate Chinese people to travel to Thailand in the next five months," Xu Xiaolei, Chief Brand Officer of CYTS Tours in Beijing, told China Daily.
To supplement the waiving of entry visas, Thailand will launch a campaign showcasing “the travel experiences of social media influencers, singers, stars and high-level government officials from China,” and wants airlines to offer seasonal charter flights from cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu and Kunming.
There’s much to unpack in the above deck from this week’s OAG Webinar. Summer 2019 vs 2023 airline seat capacity shows the gap Thailand still has to bridge.
Golden Opportunity Missed?
Underpinning the end-of-year scramble to attract Chinese tourists, Thailand is nervous it may have missed a golden opportunity to attract more visitors in 2023.
The delay in revising its visa policy for Chinese tourists shows how political decision-making impacts tourism in the region. Scrapping visas is especially important for Chinese group travel, for which competition is intensifying across Asia Pacific.
Thailand was approved by China’s government to welcome group tourists on 6 February 2023. It therefore had a head start over regional competitors like Japan, South Korea and Australia, which received Approved Destination Status on 10 August. Speaking on The South East Asia Travel Show (see below), Sam Palmer of AusTrade noted that 28% of Chinese arrivals to Australia in 2019 were on group tours.
However, pre-election political uncertainty in Thailand meant it wasted those 6 months before Japan, South Korea (which has also just waived visas for Chinese tourists) and Australia re-joined the game. After the protracted May election results, a new Thai government is now introducing a measure it recognises is long overdue.
Starting with Chinese Golden Week in October and extending through Christmas & New Year to Chinese New Year, we will see a scramble across South East Asia, North East Asia, Australia and New Zealand to attract flights and tourists from China.
The graduated first phase of a regional recovery, which began in April 2022 as South East Asian borders reopened, is now complete. During the next phase, as Chinese outbound demand increases, intra-regional tourism is about to get highly competitive.
Watch this space!
Behind the Scenes of Australia’s Tourism Transformation
Australia counts one of Asia Pacific’s most fascinating visitor economies. It combines vibrant inbound, outbound and domestic leisure and business travel segments with international education, VFR and working holiday components. So, how is Australia recovering from Covid-19 and planning ahead for the rest of the decade?
The South East Asia Travel Show chats with Samantha Palmer, General Manager of Visitor Economy & Client Programs, Australian Trade & Investment Commission (AusTrade), about the new International Diversification Strategy for the Visitor Economy, which positions Australian tourism for a changing global landscape.
Listen to Behind the Scenes of Australia’s Tourism Transformation Plan, with Samantha Palmer, AusTrade, here:
🎧 Spotify 🎧 Apple Podcasts 🎧 Website
Or search for The South East Asia Travel Show on any podcast platform
And, that’s a wrap for Issue 118.
The Asia Travel Re:Set newsletter will be back on 1 October.
Until then, find me at LinkedIn and The South East Asia Travel Show.
Happy travels,
Gary