Chinese tourists crown Vietnam, sideline Thailand

[SINGAPORE] Chinese tourists are reshaping travel trends in South-east Asia, with Vietnam and Malaysia gaining ground while Thailand, the traditional hot spot, is seeing visitor growth stall amid currency swings, safety concerns and China’s economic headwinds.

For more than a decade, Chinese tourists have been the backbone of South-east Asia’s tourism engine, filling hotels, malls and tour buses. But the long-awaited post-pandemic rebound is proving uneven, raising warning signs for some countries and cheers in others.

During the first six months of 2025, foreign tourist arrivals in Thailand were down 4.2 per cent from the corresponding period in the previous year, with 16 million tourist arrivals, according to a recent announcement by Thailand’s Ministry of Sports and Tourism.