ASIA: Chinese Tourists Set to Change Face of Region

By Marwaan Macan-Markar Reprint | | Print |

Marwaan Macan-Markar

BANGKOK, Oct 22 2004 (IPS) - Fear of a downturn in tourist arrivals to South- east Asia due to the combined effects of terrorism and lethal health hazards such as bird flu seems to be unfounded. And the hordes of Chinese travelling from mainland China to neighbouring countries seem to bear testimony to that fact.

The weekly flights from the Asian giant to Thailand are being singled out by travel experts as just one clue to this emerging face on the region’s tourist map. This summer alone there were 88 flights a week from 23 Chinese cities to Thailand.

”This is phenomenal compared to how infinitesimal it was a decade ago,” Imtiaz Muqbil, executive editor of ‘Travel Impact Newswire,’ told IPS. ”That is the most number of cities from one country feeding the travel industry.”

And these Chinese travellers are changing the face of tourism in places like Thailand, where the service industry now is beginning to cater to Oriental tastes – rather than the common fare in satisfying usual visitors from Europe and the United States.

The standard breakfast buffets dished out at hotels both in Thailand and elsewhere across the region illustrates this growing Chinese presence.

”More hotels in Asia are serving congee (a Chinese favourite rice porridge) for breakfast,” John Koldowski, managing director of the strategic intelligence centre at the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), told a press conference here on Wednesday.

The operators of beach resorts are also becoming familiar with the way Chinese holidaymakers prefer the arrangements of beds in rooms – not facing the ocean and near the window, he added.

PATA, a Bangkok-based non-profit organisation that serves the Asia- Pacific tourism industry, credited Chinese tourism for helping this region achieve ”phenomenal growth” during this year.

Between January and October, the Asia-Pacific region had recorded 171.3 million arrivals, which is a nearly 30 percent increase when set against the same period in 2003, which saw 134 million arrivals.

”Growth of 30 percent is unheard of. This is phenomenal. We are in the best position of people coming to (the) Asia-Pacific,” Koldowski said at the press conference.

Of that, Chinese travellers have contributed a significant share, according to PATA.

This year, the Chinese have made 15.7 million visits to countries in the region as against 9.02 million visits made during all of 2003, states a PATA study on travel and tourism in the region released this week. In 2002, the association recorded 8.3 million outbound journeys from the country to the region.

The places that stand to gain are the Maldives, Nepal, Hong Kong, Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Australia and New Zealand.

And PATA expects this trend to get better, with countries like Australia due to see over one million Chinese tourists by 2006, from the 450,000 in 2002 and Hong Kong to see visits from China hit nearly five million by 2006, from the 2.7 million in 2002.

It also forecasts that Chinese travellers will dominate the Thai market by 2006, with over one million visits, edging to second place visitors from Britain, expected to be 947, 795.

The profile of the Chinese tourist is also changing from the image that was dominant five years ago – the low-budget traveller who came on ‘zero cost’ tours. Under that arrangement, tour guides in China offered trips to places like Thailand at no cost but recouped their expenses from commissions made by forcing the Chinese travellers to buy goods at shops selling jewellery and handicrafts.

”The Chinese market has become more sophisticated now because of greater familiarity with the region and increasing knowledge of English,” says Muqbil, of the travel newswire. ”Some prefer to travel as individuals, not in groups.”

Chinese spending capacity also reflects the evolving pattern. According to Muqbil, the daily average amount spent by a Chinese tourist in Thailand in 2003 was 3,732 baht (93 U.S. dollars) as against 3,261 baht (81.50 U.S. dollars) per day spent by a European tourist during the same period.

”This shows that they are willing to be big spenders,” adds Muqbil.

Yet the bulk of Chinese tourists are still to drawn to Thailand because of the cheap deals on offer, say tour operators like Keiji Takeda, chairman of the Bangkok-based Shintake Tour.

Most Chinese tourists stay at hotels that offer rooms for two at 600 baht (15 dollars) per night, he said. ”A visit to Bangkok always includes a cabaret show with dinner at a price far less than what Japanese tourists or others are charged.”

And the events since the Sept. 11 acts of terror in the United States have lent a new dimension that have made Chinese tourists more attractive to hotels in the region. They have not stoped travelling due to fear of possible terror attacks unlike travellers from Europe, the United States and Japan.

”There is less sensitivity among the Chinese to issues related to terrorism unlike the tourists from Europe and North America,” says Muqbil.

The only momentary pause among Chinese travellers was when the region was battling severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) last year, the lethal virus that spread to over 20 countries, infected some 8,000 people and claimed nearly 800 lives.

However, this year’s spread of another lethal virus – bird flu – which has killed 30 people in Thailand and Vietnam has not stopped Chinese holidaymakers, as the numbers indicate.

Little wonder why Koldowski says that the Chinese market is ”redefining the tourist market in Asia.”