In 2023, greater than 100 million people visited Southeast Asian countries, about 70 percent of the pre-Covid-19 peak, based on the Nikkei newspaper, which analyzed official data from nine of the ten member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Interestingly, Brunei doesn’t publish data on this context.
Before the pandemic, Thailand was heavily reliant on tourism, which accounted for a few fifth of its gross domestic product. Last yr, Thailand attracted 28 million visitors, 2.5 times greater than in 2022. The legalization of marijuana in June 2022 also played a job, although the present government has since reversed the measure.
China has been a big contributor to Thailand’s tourism boom, with 3.5 million visitors last yr, thanks partly to a visa waiver agreement. Similarly, Laos has benefited from Chinese visitors via the Laos-China Railway, which recorded 1.75 million passengers after its inauguration in December 2021. Cambodia has also experienced the same trend, welcoming a complete of 5.45 million foreign tourists, a tenth of whom were from China.
Although the variety of Chinese tourists visiting ASEAN countries last yr was lower than before the COVID-19 pandemic, it still increased 5.1 times in comparison with 2022. Data from the primary months of 2024 suggest further growth in tourist traffic within the region this yr.
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