Travel to, from China boosted by visa waivers
Since the official implementation of the visa waiver agreement between China and Thailand on March 1, tourism between the two countries has significantly intensified.
Singapore and Malaysia have also seen an increase in Chinese tourists as along with Thailand, they are among the Southeast Asian nations that have reached visa waiver agreements with China.
During this year's extended Labour Day holiday period in China, the visa-free policy had several positive impacts. Payment services have become more convenient, and there has been an increase in flight frequencies between the affected countries. Consequently, the Chinese tourism market, both inbound and outbound, has been bustling. Countries with visa-free access have become the top choice for people seeking immediate international-travel opportunities.
The manager of a tour company in Nanning, China, said that since Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand began offering visa-free access, the tourism market has responded enthusiastically. Before the extended Labour Day holiday period, there was a noticeable increase in the number of people interested in travelling to those three countries.
Qunar.com, a leading online travel service provider in China, says that during this year's extended Labour Day holiday, the number of flight bookings to visa-free destinations increased significantly compared with 2019. Bookings to Thailand and Malaysia saw an increase of more than 30%, while local guide bookings in foreign countries surged by up to 90% year on year.
The "2024 Long Labour Day Holiday Travel Trends" report from Fliggy, Alibaba's travel service platform, indicates that bookings related to outbound travel have nearly fully recovered, with an almost 100% rebound compared with the previous year. Countries in Southeast Asia, such as Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam and Indonesia, have emerged as top destinations for international travel.
Tai Pin, director of the China National Tourism Institute, said the Visa-Free Partnership will enable China, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand to create a market for people-to-people exchanges and benefit from one another's strengths. This will transform the tourism market into a "one city, multiple destinations" model, including China, combined with Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand. This will project an image of tourism in the region where travel among countries contributes to further enhancing cross-border tourism development.
Additionally, border towns between China and Vietnam such as Dongxing and Pingxiang have seen a continuous increase in popularity for tourism. Vietnamese tourists can swiftly pass through customs procedures for tour groups and immediately start their one-day trips to Dongxing.
A report on China's outbound tourism development (2023-2024) from the China Tourism Research Institute predicts that the number of outbound trips from China will nearly reach 130 million this year. Meanwhile, a report on China's inbound tourism development indicates that since China's inbound tourism fully resumed in 2023, there has been an increasing demand for travel to that country.
The tourism industry in China believes that as its outbound tourism market recovers rapidly, more people will travel abroad, bringing new momentum to the tourism sector and economies in many countries.
