Singapore, Europe top wish list of Chinese tourists as Thailand and Japan lose some shine
Zhao Yifan
WITH more Chinese tourists staying away from Japan and Thailand of late due to various health and safety concerns, Singapore has overtaken those two countries as their preferred travel destination for now.
The latest quarterly travel sentiment survey of 10,000 Chinese residents conducted by digital marketing firm China Trading Desk (CTD) found that a sixth (17.5 per cent) picked Singapore as a place they will visit.
Europe came in second on their list, with 14.3 per cent indicating a desire to go there. South Korea was third with 11.4 per cent.
Singapore’s appeal
Singapore has long been a popular country for Chinese travellers and was ranked second in CTD’s two previous surveys – the Republic was behind Japan in the second quarter, and Thailand in Q1 this year.
It also consistently ranks among the top six outbound destinations on numerous Chinese travel platforms such as CTrip, Fliggy and Tuniu, especially during the summer holiday season from July to August, and the Golden Week holiday in October.
Andrew Phua, the executive director (international group, Greater China) of the Singapore Tourism Board (STB), said that Singapore received 1.13 million visitors from China during the first 10 months of 2023.
“(There was) a steady pickup in travel demand in recent months from July to October, where recovery reached 48 per cent to 59 per cent of the corresponding months in 2019,” he said.
CTD said that Singapore’s attractiveness for Chinese travellers lies in its close geographical proximity to China. Mandarin is also one of Singapore’s official languages, which makes communication less of an issue for many Chinese tourists.
CTD’s founder and chief executive, Subramania Bhatt, said: “Singapore is known for its clean and orderly urban environment, complete public facilities, and efficient urban management. With high levels of safety and a very low crime rate, tourists can travel with confidence.”
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In January, STB anticipated that Chinese tourist arrivals for the whole of 2023 would recover to between 30 per cent and 60 per cent of pre-Covid levels.
With the recovery on track, Phua said that STB expects to see continued growth in Chinese visitor arrivals in 2024, as outbound travel from the world’s second-largest economy continues to pick up steam.
Europe’s rise
Europe as a whole has grown in popularity among Chinese travellers. The continent was sixth in CTD’s Q1 survey and rose to second place in the Q3 poll.
Within Europe, CTD said the countries that Chinese tourists most want to visit are France, Italy, the UK, Germany and Spain.
CTD said that London is the city that will draw the most Chinese tourists, with an estimated 408,000 arrivals in the next six months. This is followed by Frankfurt (298,000), Paris (233,000) and Amsterdam (165,000).
These predictions are fairly similar to data compiled by Trip.com, which said that the top three most popular European destinations among Chinese tourists are the UK, Germany and the Netherlands.
“Compared to the same period last year, the first 10 months of 2023 saw an increase of more than four times (437 per cent) in the volume of Chinese travellers to Europe,” said Boon Sian Chai, the managing director and vice-president (international market) at Trip.com Group.
It is worth noting that China only started to lift its Covid-19 restrictions in late 2022, and travellers no longer had to undergo quarantine upon arrival on the mainland from January this year.
Thailand and Japan eye comeback
CTD’s latest survey found that Thailand had lost some appeal among Chinese tourists because of concerns over the crime situation in the country. As for Japan, Chinese tourists are more reluctant to travel there because of concerns over the release of treated wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean.
Tourism analysts noted, however, that these worries are likely to be transitory.
Bhatt from CTD said it is “a matter of time” before Thailand and Japan regain their top ranking as these countries have long been traditionally strong markets for Chinese tourists.
The Thai government recently proposed more aggressive policing measures to boost confidence among visitors to the country. Last month, it was reported that Thailand was considering a plan to station Chinese police personnel at some of the more popular tourist destinations.
As for Japan, Bhatt said that it will be more challenging to win back the trust of Chinese visitors due to the ongoing concerns over food safety.
“It will take more effort from Japan to convince the Chinese government and the public about its food safety. However, with the right marketing, this can be overcome quickly, and the Chinese will start to travel to Japan again,” he said.
Despite the weaker sentiment, Trip.com has observed a notable increase in actual booking volumes to Thailand and Japan in Q3 this year compared with Q2 – with volume up 23 per cent for Thailand and nearly 80 per cent for Japan.
“This may have been due to faster flight capacity recovery and easier visa applications, along with the desire of Chinese tourists to travel,” said Boon.
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