Drop in China tourist numbers even at peak Lunar New Year season

(TMI) – CHINESE tourists are avoiding Malaysia due to a host of factors, from the change in government after the 14th general election to a lack of tourism promotions, particularly during the Lunar New Year holidays.

Local travel agencies catering to Chinese tourists are complaining, saying they have registered up to a 15% drop in bookings.

Bookings at travel agencies have reduced between 8% and 15% this year compared with the same period last year, industry insiders told The Malaysian Insight.

The reasons, they said, include “sensitive” comments made against China after the change in government in GE14, lack of visa-free travel, lack of promotions in China and its own slowing economy because of the US-China trade war.

Last year, some two million Chinese tourists visited Malaysia, which is 37.2% more compared with the previous year. But after GE14, the growth slowed to a crawl and Chinese tourist arrivals fell short of the targeted three million visitors.

So far, only 72 countries provide visa-free travel to Chinese citizens, including Thailand, which recently announced the “joyous spring” tourism campaign, with tourists from both countries visiting each other during the festival period.

This has made Thailand the top destination for Chinese tourists, followed by Japan, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam and then Malaysia.

However, Malaysia remains one of China tourists’ top destinations, said Malaysia Inbound Tourism Association deputy president Mint Leong.

Leong told The Malaysian Insight that the trend of younger Chinese tourists arriving without booking tour packages is on the rise. This, she said, counters the fewer tours booked by the Chinese.

As a whole, the number of tourists is down but Malaysia remains a popular destination, she said, with China estimating that the number of its citizens visiting Malaysia during the Chinese New Year having increased by 32%.

Leong attributed the fewer tour bookings to, among others, Thailand’s visa-free travel for Chinese citizens and increased competition from other Southeast Asian nations, such as Vietnam, Myanmar, the Philippines and Indonesia.

Southeast Asia is a short flight from China and regional rivals are competing for a share of the Chinese tourist arrivals.

“According to statistics from several exit points in China, Thailand is the top choice for outbound Chinese tourists as they need visas to travel to Malaysia. Other than visa fees, holiday rates for flight tickets in China and group fees have also increased.”

Tourists from Heilongjiang, China’s northernmost province, Beijing and other northern Chinese cities choose Malaysia as a Chinese New Year destination to beat the cold and because the Chinese culture in Malaysia is still vibrant, she said.

However, remarks from the new government leaders in the first few weeks after GE14 also affected Malaysia’s image among Chinese tourists, Leong said.

“There’s definitely some effect. We can see it in Weibo and other social media platforms in China. But the effects are small.

“There is also insufficient promotion in China which allows rival countries to catch up.”

According to tourism portal Kuaibao, from December 31, 2018 to spring this year, the top tourist destinations for China tourists are Thailand, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, the US, Australia, the Philippines, Canada, Vietnam and England, in that order.

Malaysian Chinese Tourism Association president Albert Tan said according to its members, many popular chartered flights have been discontinued this year because of the drop in Chinese arrivals.

“During peak seasons in the past, there were 10 flights from China to Malaysia a day. There were not enough tours, hotels, tour guides and tour buses or cars to accommodate the number of Chinese tourists then.

“As for chartered flights, most of them were bound for Kota Kinabalu as Chinese tourists like coastal environments.

“The US-China trade war is causing an economic slowdown in China and other countries providing visa-free travel have caused the market to slow in the past eight months.

“Industry players think this is normal and just want the government to continue promoting Malaysian tourism and to focus on Chinese tourists. We also hope that Transport Minister Anthony Loke can arrange for more direct flights between China and Malaysia during his visit there,” he said.

“This year, tour package bookings are down by 8% to 10%, so if a tour agency typically gets 200 bookings, there will be 20 fewer this year. This can be a lot of tourists. But with the reduction in bookings, it is also not as stressful as previous years.”