Issue #130 - Visa-free Travel is the Hottest Topic in Asia-Pacific Tourism!
Issue #130 - Visa-free Travel is the Hottest Topic in Asia-Pacific Tourism!
China and South East Asian nations plan to expand their visa-waiver policies.
Welcome to issue 130 of Asia Travel Re:Set.
The Lunar New Year holidays are over. Most countries in the region reported strong arrivals figures. Domestic tourism also thrived.
Meanwhile, visa-free travel is dominating tourism politics.
So let’s follow that train of thought…
This week’s issue is co-written by myself and analyst/researcher Rong Zheng.
Thanks for checking-in.
- “IN THE NEWS”
- Visa-free Travel is the Hottest Topic in Asia-Pacific Tourism!
Will China and ASEAN nations expand their visa-waiver policies?
- Reflecting on 200 Episodes of The South East Asia Travel Show
Looking back on the defining topics in regional travel since January 2020.
“IN THE NEWS”
"Destinations in Southeast Asia traditionally rely on a strong Lunar New Year holiday to kick-start the tourism calendar.” Chinese tourists grab the headlines, but travellers from Northeast and Southeast Asia fly around the region for the public holidays. It’s perhaps the region’s most vibrant mini travel season. Many thanks to Tommy Walker for including my comments in this piece for Al Jazeera. Click to read.
Visa-free Travel is the Hottest Topic in Asia-Pacific Tourism!
Gary Bowerman & Rong Zheng assess the outlook for visa waivers in the region.
As South East Asian governments publish their Lunar New Year travel stats, visa-free travel is becoming a political piñata. It is viewed as a prize conduit to bolster Chinese visitor flows after 3 years of Covid isolation, and a slow initial recovery in 2023.
To some degree, this simultaneously re-treads old ground, and marks a new era.
The ‘old ground’ is South East Asia, where nations began offering visa-free entry to attract tourists from China and other key markets in the mid-2010s. These policies were suspended during Covid, and began to be gradually reintroduced in late 2023.
The ‘new era’ is in China, which has introduced what it calls ‘unilateral’ visa-free access to visitors from selected countries. It is also striking ‘bilateral’ visa-waiver agreements with countries like Singapore and Thailand. This marks a post-pandemic shift in China’s inbound planning, and suggests more visa agreements are yet to come.
However, the visa-free landscapes differ notably between China and South East Asia, though they are intrinsically linked for Chinese outbound travel.
South East Asia
The Thai government kickstarted the post-Covid visa-free round on 14 September 2023 by announcing a temporary visa waiver for Chinese visitors. This would span Thailand’s peak tourism season (from 29 September to 29 February 2024), covering October Golden Week, Christmas/New Year and Lunar New Year.
On 26 November, Malaysia announced a 30-day visa-free policy for Chinese tourists (see below). This came into effect from 1 December 2023 until 31 December 2024.
Fast forward into the new year…
On 25 January, Singapore and China signed a mutual 30-day visa-exemption agreement. This took effect on 9 February, Lunar New Year’s Eve.
On 28 January, Thailand and China signed a permanent mutual visa-exemption agreement. This takes effect on 1 March 2024, replacing the temporary visa waiver for Chinese tourists that ends on 29 February.
So what does this mean?
Competitive Tourism Markets
Firstly, South East Asia is a region of competitive tourism markets, which attracted 32.3 million Chinese visitors in 2019. Thailand topped the list with 11 million Chinese visitors. Waiving visas lowers the cost of travel and removes admin hassles. This is considered a competitive advantage, particularly for attracting Chinese tour groups.
As the table below shows, Chinese tourists are relatively restricted in terms of the destinations to which they can travel visa-free. China placed 64th on the 2023 Henley Passport Index, sandwiched between Saudi Arabia and Papua New Guinea.
Thailand and China have aggressively promoted the joint visa-free deal. On 31 January, Thailand’s Minister of Tourism and Sports and China’s Director of the National Tourism Administration joined a Ctrip livestream highlighting activities to celebrate the Lunar New Year in Thailand. More than 20 million people watched the livestream, which generated tourism product sales of over THB100 million.
Source: Henley Passport Index 2023
China’s National Business Daily and HCR conducted a tourism sentiment survey to assess the influence of visa-free policies on destination decision-making.
The survey revealed visa-exemption has little impact on Chinese consumers who have a clear idea about where they want to travel. Only 26.5% of respondents said visa-free entry has a strong influence on their choice of destination.
During Spring Festival, there were 3.6 million outbound travellers from China. The Top 10* international destinations were: Thailand (visa free), Japan, Singapore (visa free), Malaysia (visa free), Australia, South Korea, US, Indonesia (visa on arrival), Vietnam, and UAE.
[* Excluding Hong Kong and Macau. Although they garnered the lion’s share of cross-border visitors from China during Spring Festival, neither administration has the autonomy to set its own visa policy with regard to mainland arrivals. This point was highlighted during the pandemic.]
China
“China inbound travel is an untapped opportunity,” said Jane Sun, CEO of Trip.com, during this week’s 2023 Annual Results earnings call. “Recognising the importance of inbound travel… China’s government has taken steps to facilitate inbound tourism by granting visa-free access, making travel more convenient for international visitors.”
Ms Sun added that Trip.com views inbound travel as a new growth generator for China’s most globalised OTA, which derives its revenues primarily from outbound and domestic travel.
The Chinese government says waiving visa requirements for selected markets will boost inbound tourism, make access easier for business visitors and attract inward investment. Provincial governments have been set targets for inbound arrivals.
World’s Largest Visa-free System
On 24 November 2023, China announced visa-free entry for stays of up to 15 days for citizens of 5 European nations, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands and Spain, and 1 Asian nation, Malaysia. The scheme runs from 1 December 2023 to 31 November 2024.
As mentioned above, Malaysia quickly reciprocated by offering visa-free access to Chinese tourists, along with those from India and selected other markets.
France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands and Spain, though, are EU countries and members of the 27-nation Schengen framework (“the world’s largest visa-free system”). They are unable to strike bilateral visa deals. China subsequently added Ireland (EU/non-Schengen) and Switzerland (non-EU/Schengen) to the list.
While the attractiveness of removing visa applications for short-term business and MICE travellers is clear, the appeal is less evident for leisure visitors to China.
Long-haul travel from Europe remains costly, direct flight options are limited. China does not really exist at the centre of a competitive set of destinations for European travellers in the same way South East Asian countries do for Chinese travellers.
Moreover, as the 2023 Henley Passport Index shows (see above) travellers from all of the nations recently visa-exempted to enter China (except Thailand) have plentiful visa-free destination choices. Therefore, granting visa-free entry does not elicit an immediate pull factor on its own merits for leisure travellers.
The situation is perhaps different in shorter-haul markets, like Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia, which form part of Asia’s Chinese diaspora. Travelling to China to visit relatives, friends and sons/daughters studying in the country will now be easier, as will short vacations and group tours from those countries.
The Wrap
A successful Lunar New Year mini travel season in South East Asia will mean visa-waivers remain a hot topic through 2024. This week, Thai Prime Minister, Srettha Thavisin, proposed extending visa-free access to more inbound markets. Vietnam’s Prime Minister, Pham Minh Chinh, issued a similar proposal.
Meanwhile in China, the government appears determined to boost inbound arrivals - and will likely announce more visa-waiver deals.
Watch this space!
Reflecting on 200 Episodes of The South East Asia Travel Show
Launched on 9 January 2020, The South East Asia Travel Show has hit 200 episodes. This week, we reflect on the defining travel topics of the past 4 years, a large chunk of which was clouded by the pandemic. En route, we’ve interviewed travel experts in 18 countries, and covered issues from Ethical Travel to Concert Tourism and Sandboxes to Tourism Transformation. Last month the show was downloaded in 73 countries.
Listen to 'Reflecting on 4 Years & 200 Episodes of The South East Asia Travel Show' here:
Or search for The South East Asia Travel Show on any podcast platform
And, that’s a wrap for Issue 130.
The Asia Travel Re:Set newsletter will return on 3 March.
Until then, find me at LinkedIn and The South East Asia Travel Show.
Happy travels,
Gary
We are going to Malaysia in March and our travel agent has alerted us to we have to fill in an electronic Malaysian digital arrival card 3 days before departure. We have been going since 2001 and have never had to do this. Will this turn into a visa? It seems that they are doing everything to attract Chinese visitors with no visa, extra flights etc but nothing to attract those from the UK.