Chinese travelers are canceling plans to go to Thailand in the course of the Lunar Recent 12 months holiday, as concerns over the kidnapping of actor Wang Xing proceed to reverberate through the country.
Net booking volume for trips to Thailand fell 15.6% from Jan. 13 to Jan. 20 from the previous week, after news of the rescue of Wang from a scamming compound along the Thai-Myanmar border this month, in response to the marketing agency China Trading Desk.
The fallout can be extending to other countries in Southeast Asia, with data from the aviation analytics company VariFlight showing Chinese travelers also canceled holiday trips to Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia — albeit to a lesser degree, in response to the corporate’s CEO, Subramania Bhatt.
“The most important decline is in Thailand. The opposite Southeast Asian countries are, I might say, collateral damage,” said Bhatt. “Numerous folks plan to travel across the region as a single trip … so some have cancelled trips that originate from these countries too.”
In the course of the same week in January, Chinese travelers booked more Lunar Recent 12 months trips to other destinations, including Australia (+4.8%), the United Arab Emirates (+4.7%) and South Korea (+3.9%), data showed.
Thailand posted an AI-generated video on the federal government’s Facebook page last Wednesday of its prime minister attempting to reassure Chinese tourists that traveling to Thailand is secure. Days earlier, Chinese officials said they were prepared to work with Southeast Asian nations to crack down on cross-border scamming compounds, in response to China’s State Council.
Chinese travelers’ reluctance to go to Southeast Asia could also be benefitting other destinations, said Yang Lei, analyst on the Hong Kong-based financial services company China Galaxy International.
“Currently, Chinese individuals are becoming more cautious to go to Thailand and in addition another Southeast countries,” she told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” Monday. “The recent locations for outbound will proceed to be Japan [and] South Korea. And for this Chinese Recent 12 months, individuals are also quite willing to go to Australia, Recent Zealand and in addition the USA.”
Fears about human trafficking
The kidnapping of Wang, who was lured to Bangkok for a job opportunity, reignited fears amongst Chinese travelers to go to Thailand and other parts of Southeast Asia.

Outbound travel: increasing but ‘uneven’
Despite the cancellations, parts of Southeast Asia are expected to draw more Chinese tourists this Lunar Recent 12 months than in 2019, in response to Bhatt.

Flight bookings to Singapore are up 14.2% and to Malaysia 6.2% from 2019 levels, in response to China Trading Desk’s data. South Korea can be expected to see Chinese tourist arrivals fully rebound in the course of the festive period.
Nevertheless, Japan — a top destination for outbound Chinese travelers this Lunar Recent 12 months – is not expected to see a full recovery of holiday visitors from China, with data showing arrivals will still be down 10% from 2019.
Outbound travel from China is “uneven” straight away, said Bhatt, who added that while outbound travel from China is picking up, it’s still “way off” to long-haul destinations like Europe and the USA.
Along with safety, geopolitics and costs are also driving Chinese travel sentiment, he said, which is why “politically neutral” countries, like Singapore and Malaysia, are seeing travelers return faster than other places.
“Travel to Europe is getting dearer due to Russian airspace closure, so it’s costing [Chinese travelers] far more to fly,” he said.
Despite weak consumer confidence in a slowing economy, Chinese individuals are willing to spend on experiences, especially those involving travel, Yang said.
“For the upcoming Chinese Recent 12 months, we expect the inbound and outbound travel will maintain very solid gross momentum,” she said.
Chinese officials expect a record-breaking nine billion trips might be taken in the course of the country’s 40-day Lunar Recent 12 months travel rush, which began on Jan. 14.