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Chinese tourists, wary of Thailand, plan other stops for Lunar New Year travel

Writer's picture: CherlynCherlyn

By Ralph Jennings

Published Jan 28, 2025


The number of bookings for Thailand by travellers in China – one of the world’s biggest pools of outbound tourists – declined by 15.6 per cent for the period from January 13 to 20 compared to the previous week, per travel marketing and technology firm China Trading Desk.


Japan and Malaysia have picked up bookings especially fast this year, leading other popular choices, data from the firm shows. Bookings for Japan through January 20 had grown by 86 per cent over the same period of 2024, with Malaysia beating last year’s figures by 79.2 per cent.


China Trading Desk data also shows that bookings for South Korea gained by 9.7 per cent in the first full week of the month compared to the previous seven days, but slowed to just 3.9 per cent the week after.


Malaysia is generating interest because of its food, prices and a large ethnic Chinese population, China Trading Desk CEO Subramania Bhatt said.


“It has a significant Chinese diaspora, making it culturally familiar to Chinese tourists,” he said. “Mandarin and various Chinese dialects are widely spoken, making it easy to navigate.”

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