BEIJING – Chinese travellers flocked to tourist hot spots across Asia over the Chinese New Year break, with visitor numbers and spending in destinations such as Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia exceeding pre-Covid-19 levels.

Visa-free access for Chinese tourists to the South-east Asian countries boosted traffic and signalled a robust revival in travel since Beijing lifted strict Covid-19 restrictions in early 2023 that had all but shut China’s borders for three years.

The increase also provides a welcome relief to countries whose tourism industries rely on the Chinese and their spending for growth, although the outlook for a sustained recovery in overseas travel is overshadowed by a sluggish mainland economy and volatile financial markets that have seen consumers tighten their belts at home.

“Despite the macroeconomic headwinds, we believe Chinese citizens are still willing to spend on travel-related experiences... We think travel-related spending could continue to outpace this overall domestic consumption,” HSBC said in a research note.

Bookings to Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia combined jumped more than 30 per cent from Feb 10 to 17 compared with the same period in 2019, according to travel website operator Trip.com, with the number of Chinese visitors to Hong Kong, Macau, Japan and South Korea also increasing.

The 2024 holiday lasted eight days, one day more than the 2019 Chinese New Year break.

Reflecting the boost from visa waivers, hotel bookings for Bangkok tripled over the period from Feb 10 to 13 year on year, while those for Singapore jumped ninefold, according to travel platform LY.com.

Spending in Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia combined on Chinese mobile payment platform Alipay increased 7.5 per cent in the Feb 9 to 12 period from 2019 levels and nearly sevenfold from 2023, Alipay said.

However, overall consumer spending recovered to only 82 per cent of levels four years ago, the company said.

Middle East surge

As the Chinese look for new adventures, the Middle East proved a popular Chinese New Year destination, with travel to Saudi Arabia up more than ninefold from 2019 levels and bookings to the United Arab Emirates climbing 60 per cent, Trip.com said.

The gambling hub of Macau, the only place in China where citizens can legally gamble in casinos, recorded a surge in Chinese tourists, with more than a million visiting over the holiday and average hotel occupancy rates reaching 95 per cent, according to official data.

The jump in tourist numbers bodes well for some of the world’s largest casino operators in the former Portuguese territory, including Sands China and Wynn Macau.

JP Morgan said in a note that it expected daily gross gaming revenues for the peak of the holiday to hit US$124 million (S$166.8 million) for the first time in more than four years – more than the US$112 million generated during the October 2023 Golden Week holiday.

Mass gaming rates were forecast to have reached 120 per cent of pre-Covid-19 levels, it said, adding that it expects February gross gaming revenues to rise by at least 80 per cent year on year to US$2.36 billion, the highest in more than four years.

Across the border in Hong Kong, leader John Lee said on Feb 20 that more than 1.2 million Chinese tourists visited the city over Chinese New Year and overall hotel occupancy rates reached 90 per cent in the first few days. About 1,980 group tours from mainland China visited Hong Kong during the holiday.

South Korea’s Justice Ministry said more than 114,000 Chinese visitors entered the country during the holiday, up 4 per cent from 2019, while some travel agents noted that tourists were increasingly opting to travel on their own rather than in groups, which meant fewer organised trips to mega-stores.

“With drops in the number of group tourists, we don’t get to see Chinese tourists carrying big shopping bags any more,” an official at a travel agency in Seoul told Reuters, requesting not to be named as he is not authorised to speak to the media.

In Japan, department store operator Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings said that up to and including Feb 14, “duty-free sales were significantly higher than in the previous year, partly due to the Chinese New Year”.

A shift in holiday tastes was reflected in some data as travellers sought more experience-based trips, with Alipay reporting that Chinese tourists globally spent 70 per cent more on food and beverages compared with pre-Covid-19 levels.

Trip.com said overseas car rentals on its platform jumped 53 per cent from 2019 and tickets for scenic experiences abroad soared more than 130 per cent. REUTERS