CHIANG MAI, Thailand — Only a handful of Chinese visitors were posing for photos and sunbathing last week at the market and plazas near Chiang Mai’s ancient Tha Phae Gate, one of the many tourist spots that still welcome millions Chinese travelers return. .
The beaches and temples of destinations like Bali and Chiang Mai are the busiest they have been since the pandemic broke out three years ago, but they are still relatively quiet.
Still, Chanatip Pansomboon, a soft drink vendor in the Chinatown district of Chiang Mai, a picturesque riverside city in northern Thailand, was optimistic. He believes that with the number of flights from China continuing to increase, it is only a matter of time.
“If many of them can come back, it will be good as they have purchasing power,” Chanatip said.
The expected resumption of group tours from China is likely to bring many more visitors. At the moment, it’s only individual travelers who can afford to pay, with flights costing more than triple what they usually do, those traveling abroad.
This includes people like Chen Jiao Jiao, a doctor who was posing for pictures with her children in front of the red brick wall of Tha Phae Gate, escaping the wet cold of Shanghai to enjoy Chiang Mai’s warm sun and breeze fresh off her first overseas vacation since the virus emerged in China in early 2020.
“After three years of the pandemic and a harsh winter, it is now opening,” Chen said. “For us Chinese, the first choice is to visit Chiang Mai because the weather is warm and the people here are very warm.”
In 2019, 1.2 million Chinese tourists visited Chiang Mai, generating $450 million in tourism-related revenue, money sorely lacking across the region after countries closed their borders to most travel.
Group tours will resume from February 6, but the number of tourists arriving will depend on how many flights are being operated, said Suladda Sarutilawan, director of the Tourism Authority of Thailand’s Chiang Mai office. She said the hope is for about 500,000-600,000 visitors from China this year.
Of course more Chinese would like to visit, said Li Wei, a businessman from Shanghai, as he toured the ancient wall with his extended family of seven.
“Since visas and flights have not yet returned to normal, perhaps tourists will come in the next three months,” Li said.
Far to the south, on the tropical Indonesian resort island of Bali, shops and restaurants — some decorated with festive red lanterns and the red and gold envelopes used for Lunar New Year cash gifts — were still relatively empty.
Bali’s first post-pandemic direct flight from China arrived last week, bringing 210 tourists from the southern city of Shenzhen, who were greeted with marigold wreaths and dance performances.
“Before Covid, we worked with travel agents who handled Chinese tourists who brought us guests from China every day, but since they closed, there are much fewer guests,” said Made Sutarma, a seafood restaurant owner in Jimbaran area of Bali.
After three long years of almost no customers, Nyoman Wisana, the general manager of a Chinese restaurant, said he was “very happy” to see Chinese tourists return.
Fewer than 23,000 Chinese tourists visited Bali from January to November last year, and only a quarter of the island’s 80 tour operators that mainly cater to Chinese customers are operating, said Putu Winastra, chairman of the Bali Association of Tours and Travel Agencies. Indonesian.
“Actually, we’re very concerned about that,” he said.
Indonesia is developing programs to attract more Chinese tourists, including exploring the start of direct flights from major cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, he said.
Those who visited last week seemed upbeat after enduring months of strict pandemic controls that put international travel beyond the reach of nearly all Chinese.
“I feel fantastic as I haven’t gone abroad and come to Southeast Asia for vacation for the past three years,” said Li Zhaolong, a tourist enjoying a day at the beach. “Bali is a very beautiful place so I’m very happy to come here.”
Closer to home, casinos in the gambling enclave of Macau and popular tourist spots in Hong Kong, a former British colony, drew larger than usual crowds but were still empty compared to pre-Covid-19 days. Normally, places like Hong Kong’s scenic Ocean Park and Wong Tai Sin Temple, with its Nine Dragon Wall, would be filled with visitors from mainland China.
Leo Guo, who works in the travel industry, took his wife, daughter, sister and parents for a week filled with visits to Hong Kong Disneyland, Victoria Peak and the skyline-filled harbour, and of course, shopping.
“For mainland Chinese, Hong Kong is a special city different from other Chinese cities,” Lee said. “It is a major destination for us.”
Further back in Australia, Sydney-based travel agent Eric Wang said the high cost of travel still appears to be keeping Chinese away even as Chinese airlines increase flights.
The Chinese accounted for nearly a third of all tourism spending in Australia before the pandemic, with more than 1.4 million visitors in 2019. Australia, like Japan, the US and some other countries, is requiring visitors from China to take tests for Covid-19 before departure. But Wang, who works for CBT Holidays, a company specializing in travel to and from China, said he did not see this as a serious obstacle.
“It’s more about the airlines, because the flights are still not back to normal frequency, so the air fares are five times more expensive,” he said.
Information for this article was provided by Sigit Purwono, Rod McGuirk, Alice Fung and Edna Tarigan of The Associated Press.
Hong Kong travelers wearing the traditional South Korean Hanbok costume look at a smartphone at Gyeongbok Palace, the main royal palace during the Joseon Dynasty and one of South Korea’s famous landmarks in Seoul, South Korea, on January 18, 2023 .The expected resumption of group tours from China is likely to bring many more visitors. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
