Southeast Asian tourists flock to China after visa rules ease

China is regaining its status as a hotspot for Southeast Asian tourists lured by new visa-free entry programmes and easier access to the mainland’s cashless payment systems, according to booking platform Klook Travel Technology Ltd.

Reservations from Southeast Asia into the mainland so far in 2024 have been “several times” higher than pre-pandemic levels, Ethan Lin, Klook’s chief executive, said in an interview at the UBS Asian Investment Conference in Hong Kong. Overall inbound travel to the mainland could fully recover to pre-Covid figures by 2025, he added.

People from parts of the region “don’t have that many places they can go that are visa-free,” Lin said. “So China has now become one of the major places that they really travel to.”

China in recent months loosened visa restrictions for people from Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore, along with some European countries and cruise ship passengers, in an apparent bid to boost both inbound tourism and investment.

Officials have also begun easing access to the country’s largely cashless payment system, which can be unfriendly to people without Chinese bank accounts and payment apps, and last week warned hotels and hostels against rejecting overseas customers.

Some smaller Chinese accommodation providers often turn away foreigners on the grounds they’re not well-equipped or licenced to host them.

China reported 82 million tourist arrivals last year – returning to about 56 per cent of the 2019 level, before the pandemic closed mainland borders – according to the country’s National Bureau of Statistics. The number of visits made by people from outside Hong Kong and Macau was only at 13.8 million, lagging pre-Covid figures by some 57 per cent.