According to booking platform Klook Travel Technology Ltd, China is regaining its status as a hotspot for tourists from Southeast Asia, attracted by latest visa-free travel programs and easier access to cashless payment systems on the continent.
So far in 2024, bookings from Southeast Asia to the mainland have been “several times” higher than pre-pandemic levels, Ethan Lin, chief executive of Klook, said in an interview on the UBS Asian Investment Conference in Hong Kong. Overall inbound travel to the continent could fully return to pre-pandemic levels by 2025, he added.
People in some parts of the region “do not have many places they’ll go with no visa,” Lin said. “So China has now become one of the main places where people really travel.”
In recent months, China has loosened visa restrictions on people from Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore, in addition to some European countries and cruise passengers, in an apparent bid to spice up each inbound tourism and investment.
Officials have also begun to ease access to the country’s largely cashless payment system, which might be unfriendly to people without Chinese bank accounts and payment apps, and last week warned hotels and hostels against turning away foreign customers.
Some smaller Chinese accommodation providers often turn away foreigners, saying they are usually not well equipped or licensed to accommodate them.
China recorded 82 million tourist arrivals last 12 months, back to about 56 percent of the extent seen in 2019 before the pandemic closed borders on the mainland, in line with the National Bureau of Statistics. The variety of visits from people outside Hong Kong and Macau was only 13.8 million, about 57% lower than before the Covid pandemic.
