Text/Liu Wenwen
Good news for inbound and outbound travel!
Following the mutual visa exemption between Malaysia and China at the end of last year, Singapore and Thailand have recently joined China’s visa-free “circle of friends”.
On January 25, China and Singapore signed a mutual visa exemption agreement. On January 28, China and Thailand signed a mutual visa exemption agreement. So far, China and the three countries "Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand" have all achieved mutual visa exemption.
Experts analyze that the "Singapore-Malaysia-Thailand" route is a classic travel route in Southeast Asia. Taking advantage of the mutual exemption policy, outbound tourism is expected to see a small upsurge during the Spring Festival holiday.
Turn on "two-way rush" mode
As soon as the visa-free news came out, the tourism popularity of "Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand" increased rapidly, and Chinese and foreign tourists also started the "two-way travel" mode for cross-border travel.
One hour after the mutual visa exemption policy between China and Singapore was announced, the search volume for Singapore air tickets on the Fliggy platform increased by more than 15 times month-on-month, and the search volume for hotels increased by more than 6 times month-on-month.
On the day when China and Thailand officially signed the mutual visa exemption agreement, the search popularity of Thailand-related keywords on Ctrip's platform increased by more than 7 times compared with the previous day, with air tickets and hotels both increasing by more than 6 times compared with the previous day. At the same time, the popularity of Thai tourists traveling to China has also increased rapidly. On the Thai site of Ctrip International Trip.com, the search popularity of China-related keywords increased more than four times compared with the previous day. Shanghai, Chengdu, Harbin, Shenzhen, Beijing, Tianjin, Chongqing, Zhangjiajie, etc. are the most searched cities by Thai tourists.
Qin Jing, vice president of Ctrip Group, said that the permanent mutual visa exemption between China and Thailand will be officially implemented from March 1, seamlessly connecting the visa exemption policy for Chinese tourists that originally ended on February 29. After the agreement is signed, it will greatly facilitate the exchanges between the people of China and Thailand, and the tourism resources of China and Thailand will complement each other. China is also the closest ice and snow tourism destination to Thailand. The permanent visa exemption will further promote Thai tourists to travel to China, and is expected to promote Thailand to become the top three source countries for Chinese inbound tourists in 2024.
Due to its short distance, beautiful scenery and pleasant climate, "Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand" have always been the first choice for Chinese tourists to travel abroad. Cheng Chaogong, chief researcher of Tongcheng Research Institute, told a reporter from China News Service that the implementation of the mutual visa exemption policy between the three countries and China will further strengthen inter-regional personnel exchanges and is of great significance for enhancing business, economic, trade, cultural and tourism exchanges between China and Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. major. In his view, "Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand" have formed a "golden tourism belt" for Chinese tourists, and the synergistic effect of the three countries in expanding the Chinese tourist source market will be further highlighted.
Expected to become a popular destination during the Spring Festival
The Spring Festival holiday is approaching, and many tourists are planning to travel abroad. Affected by the mutual visa exemption policy, the "Singapore-Malaysia-Thailand" outbound travel route has attracted a lot of attention.
Fliggy said that mutual visa exemption between China and Singapore will take effect from February 9 (Lunar New Year's Eve), which means that during the upcoming Spring Festival holiday, domestic tourists will go to Singapore for vacation, and Singaporean tourists will enter the country to celebrate the Chinese New Year. . As of 16:00 on January 25, the number of travel bookings in Singapore during the Spring Festival holiday has increased by more than 30 times year-on-year, and the growth trend is further accelerating.
Ctrip data shows that so far during the Spring Festival, travel orders from Chinese tourists to Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand have increased by more than 15 times year-on-year. Among them, travel orders to Singapore and Thailand have increased by more than 13 times year-on-year, and travel orders to Malaysia have increased by more than 22 times year-on-year. During the Spring Festival, travel orders from tourists from Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand to China increased by 9 times year-on-year, with Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand increasing by more than 14 times, 11 times and 8 times respectively.
"The visa facilitation policy has significantly increased consumers' willingness to travel to destinations such as Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand." Cheng Chaogong analyzed that during the Spring Festival this year, Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand were among the top popular destinations for Chinese residents to travel abroad, especially Singapore. The popularity has remained at a historically high level since New Year's Day, and countries such as Singapore are also among the top sources of inbound tourists from China.
Experts believe that as a classic travel route in Southeast Asia, outbound travel to "Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand" during the Spring Festival holiday is expected to usher in a small climax by taking advantage of the policy "east wind".
Promote inbound and outbound tourism to heat up again
So far, China has concluded mutual visa exemption agreements covering different passport types with 157 countries, reached agreements or arrangements on simplified visa procedures with 44 countries, and achieved comprehensive mutual visa exemption with 22 countries including Singapore, Maldives, and Kazakhstan. In addition, more than 60 countries and regions offer visa-free or visa-on-arrival convenience to Chinese citizens.
Cheng Chaogong analyzed that with the intensive implementation of visa facilitation policies, the convenience of independent travel abroad continues to increase, and the willingness of Chinese citizens to travel abroad continues to increase. It is believed that more Chinese citizens will go abroad to complete their first overseas travel in the future.
At the same time, inbound tourism is also recovering in an orderly manner. Chi Jingyang, director of the Border Inspection and Management Department of the National Immigration Administration, previously said that with the development of global economy and trade, the orderly resumption of international flights and flights, and the gradual active flow of cross-border people, it is expected that the number of immigrants will continue to grow in 2024.
Analysts believe that the current visa-free effect is accelerating, and the value of Chinese citizens' "passports" has further increased. As the international tourism supply chain speeds up its repair and relevant difficulties and blockages are solved and cleared one by one, the recovery process of inbound and outbound tourism is expected to accelerate.