‘Zero-drama’ Singapore is just the ticket for Chinese tourists snubbing Japan

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By Jean Iau

Published November 30, 2025

Within 24 hours of Beijing’s warning, three Chinese airlines had begun offering refunds on bookings to Japanese cities. A week later, the number of Chinese carriers taking the same stance had hit double digits.

Data from Chinese travel platform Qunar showed that for the weekend of November 15, South Korea was the most popular overseas destination for Chinese tourists, surpassing the previous top spot destination, Japan.

South Korea also topped for flight ticket payments and search volume followed by Thailand, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam and Indonesia.

While most of the Chinese tourists spoke to in Singapore had booked their trips before the latest diplomatic rift, some noted there was a preference for Southeast Asia in light of the boycott.

Media studies undergraduate She Tianze, 20, said there was a “strong reluctance towards visiting Japan” by some of his compatriots and that Singapore or other Southeast Asian countries were preferred destinations because of the rift.

“People have different reasons. Some are concerned about safety or political tensions, while others simply feel more comfortable exploring places that are closer, familiar or perceived as more stable. As a result, Southeast Asia has become a more attractive option for certain groups of travellers,” said She, who visited Singapore last week for four days before travelling to Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines.

‘Changes the map’

Subramania Bhatt, chief executive of the travel marketing and technology firm China Trading Desk, told This Week in Asia that new bookings from China to Southeast Asia, namely Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam, were running at about 15 to 20 per cent above their average weekly level from August to September.

For Singapore specifically, the company was seeing about 20 to 25 per cent more bookings in the weeks since the Japan advisory than in the same weeks of November and December last year.

Bhatt noted that in the latest boycott, the top-down signalling was unusually strong. He said: “Beijing hasn’t just urged caution; the embassy in Tokyo has repeatedly warned Chinese citizens to avoid visiting Japan for now, citing both safety concerns and the political rift over Taiwan.”

He added that the airlines and cruise lines offering free cancellations and rebooking, and in some cases removing Japan from their schedules, made it much easier for ordinary travellers to comply.

“Tourism players in Singapore and the wider region should expect – and plan for – higher Chinese volumes than their pre-crisis scenarios, but it’s an incremental surge layered onto an already strong recovery, not an entirely new flood,” he said.

He pointed out that visa-free or light access in the cases of Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and now increasingly Vietnam had already been boosting Chinese arrivals since early 2024, and the boycott offered the region a chance to move up the value chain.

“The boycott of Japan doesn’t stop Chinese from travelling – it mostly changes the map. In the current environment, Southeast Asia and especially Singapore look like the big relative winners, but they’ll need to manage that upside carefully to avoid inheriting Japan’s overtourism problems along with its tourists,” Bhatt said.

In July, Japan launched a government body to investigate overtourism. Then prime minister Shigeru Ishiba said that “disorderly conduct by some foreigners has created a situation in which the public feels uneasy and cheated”.

Tour agency Dynasty Travel said there had been a 20 per cent increase in inquiries from mainland Chinese travellers for Singapore trips this November compared with November last year.

Patrick Teo, director in the CEO’s office, noted that the upward trend extended beyond Singapore to other countries in the region since Chinese tourists typically paired their travels to the city state with a neighbouring country.

“We do have Chinese clients who say that, in a normal year, Japan would be their first choice, but this year they prefer to ‘avoid complications’ and pick a neutral, low-risk destination. Singapore is benefiting as a natural Plan B for those travellers,” Teo said.

The Japan tourism boycott was just one of the reasons behind the demand, he said. Other factors include Singapore’s image as clean, safe, politically stable, efficient, Mandarin being widely spoken, and its “zero-drama” positioning amid geopolitical uncertainty.

“We are seeing a clear uplift in affluent Chinese travellers’ interest in Singapore, and the current boycott of Japan is part of the story – but it sits on top of broader trends in Chinese outbound travel and Singapore’s existing strengths as a destination,” Teo said.

Booking site Trip.com had similarly seen bookings in Singapore and across Southeast Asia rise for November year-on-year, but a spokesman said this largely tracked with how its business had grown as a whole.

Meanwhile, tour agency Chan Brothers said it had not seen a noticeable impact from the recent diplomatic tensions between Japan and China since its Chinese clients were mainly meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) groups and student educational travel, which generally required longer lead times for planning and booking.

On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump and Takaichi spoke over the phone, hours after he held a call with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The calls have been seen as a message to Japan and other US allies to show restraint over the Taiwan issue.

Amid the diplomatic fallout between Tokyo and Beijing, Hunanese accountant Echo He feels relieved she has chosen Southeast Asia for her year-end trip with her husband and colleagues, instead of the popular choice, Japan.

The latest spat between both nations arose on November 7 when Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi suggested her country could deploy its military forces in the event of a conflict in the Taiwan Strait.

This infuriated Beijing, which sees Taiwan as part of China to be reunited by force if necessary. Most countries, including the United States and Japan, do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state, but Washington is opposed to any attempt to take the self-governed island by force and is committed to supplying it with weapons.

On November 17, China’s foreign affairs ministry and the Chinese embassy in Japan warned its citizens against travelling to the country in the near future as the situation presented “significant risks to the personal safety and lives of Chinese citizens in Japan”.

He, 36, told This Week in Asia from Singapore’s Gardens By The Bay that she had booked the two-day trip, her first to the city state, before the boycott began. She had chosen Singapore as she had heard that it was easy to navigate as a Mandarin speaker.

“People are now a little nervous about going to Japan, there might be some unfriendliness towards us. But Singapore is easy and comfortable,” said He, who was headed to Malaysia after her Singapore jaunt.