Chinese tourists flock to Southeast Asia as overseas travel bounces back (updated)

Sands China

20/02/2024 07:33

(Adds details on South Korea in paragraph 16)
    By Sophie Yu and Anne Marie Roantree
       BEIJING/HONG KONG, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Chinese travellers
flocked to tourist hot-spots across Asia over the Lunar New Year
break, with visitor numbers and spending in destinations
including Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia exceeding pre-COVID
levels.
    Visa-free access for Chinese tourists to the Southeast Asia
countries boosted traffic and signalled a robust revival in
travel since Beijing lifted strict COVID 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% from Feb. 10-17 compared with 2019, according to
travel website operator Trip.com, with Chinese visitors to Hong
Kong, Macau, Japan and South Korea also increasing.
    The holiday in 2024 lasted for eight days, one day more than
the Lunar New year break in 2019.
    Reflecting the boost from visa waivers, hotel bookings for
Bangkok tripled over the period from Feb. 10-13 year-on-year,
while those for Singapore jumped nine-fold, according to travel
platform LY.com.  
    Spending in Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia combined on the
Chinese mobile payment platform Alipay increased 7.5% in the
period from Feb. 9-12 from 2019 levels and nearly 7-fold from
last year, Alipay said.  
    However, overall consumer spending only recovered to 82% of
levels four years ago, the company said. 
    
    MIDDLE EAST SURGE
    As Chinese scour for new adventures, the Middle East proved
a popular Lunar New Year destination, with travel to Saudi
Arabia up more than nine-fold from 2019 levels and bookings to
United Arab Emirates climbing 60%, 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%,
according to official data.
    The jump in tourists bodes well for some of the world's
largest casino operators in the former Portuguese territory,
including Sands China  1928.HK  and Wynn Macau  1128.HK .
    JP Morgan said in a note it expected daily gross gaming
revenues for the peak of the holiday to hit $124 million for the
first time in more than four years - higher than the $112
million generated during the October 2023 Golden Week holiday. 
    Mass gaming rates were forecast to have reached 120% of
pre-COVID levels, it said, adding that it expects February gross
gaming revenues to rise by at least 80% year-on-year to $2.36
billion, the highest in more than four years. 
    Across the border in Hong Kong, leader John Lee said on
Tuesday more than 1.2 million Chinese tourists visited the city
over Lunar New Year and overall hotel occupancy rates reached
90% in the first few days. Around 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%
from 2019, while some travel agents noted 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 anymore," an
official at a travel agency in Seoul told Reuters, requesting
not to be named as he is not authorized to speak to media. 
    In Japan, department store operator Isetan Mitsukoshi
Holdings said that through to Feb. 14 "duty-free sales were
significantly higher than 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 Chinese tourists globally spent 70% more on food and
beverages compared with pre-COVID levels. 
    Trip.com said overseas car rentals on its platform jumped
53% compared to 2019 and tickets for scenic experiences abroad
soared more than 130%. 

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Spring festival spending on China's duty-free island hits record
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 (Additional reporting by Brenda Goh in Shanghai, Heekyong Yang
in Seoul, Rocky Swift in Tokyo and Jessie Pang in Hong Kong;
Writing by Anne Marie Roantree; Editing by Miral Fahmy)
 ((annemarie.roantree@thomsonreuters.com; +852 97387151; Reuters
Messaging: annemarie.roantree.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))