Chinese travellers shunning tour groups for free and easy trips to Southeast Asia

Factors such as the shortage of direct long-haul commercial flights are encouraging young tourists to plan their own adventures in Southeast Asia

While many flight routes will slowly come back, tourist businesses in the region detect a longer-term trend away from large group experiences

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Chinese tourists at Patuxay Park in Vientiane, Laos. Photo: Xinhua

Joseph Sipalan,Resty Woro Yuniar,Kimberly LimandSineat Yon

Published: 8:30am, 18 Feb 2023Updated: 5:23pm, 19 Feb 2023

On a pier on the Thai resort of Pattaya that was once teeming with the flags of ever-present Chinese tour groups, Guangzhou natives Huang Hubin and Huang Junjie were enjoying the freedom of their first holiday since China dropped its pandemic travel curbs.

The trip was even more rewarding because the cousins had reserved it themselves.

By booking independently, Hubin and Junjie, a marketing manager and a music producer both in their mid-20s, were liberated from the strict schedule of a guided tour, which before the pandemic was the main form of mass tourism from China to Thailand. More than 10 million Chinese tourists visited in 2019.

Travel insiders in Southeast Asia say they are seeing fewer Chinese tour groups. Photo: Xinhua

But the cousins are part of a post-pandemic cohort chasing bespoke holidays that offer value and different experiences from bus hopping photo-ops, set-menu restaurants and quick stops on packed beaches.

“Thailand is close, easy to get [a] visa and it’s warm,” said Hubin after a day of snorkelling and jet-skiing around an island just off Pattaya.

Younger, armed with apps and with more than enough funds to go it alone after three years at home, so-called free and independent travellers (FITs) like the Huang cousins are back across Southeast Asia, seeking adventure, local food, the chance to hype their social media and take a little risk beyond the confines of a tour.

The kingdom’s tourism-dependent economy, slowly recovering from the pandemic, is looking for a boost from the return of Chinese visitors. They could help drive employment in an economy expected to grow by around 3.7 per cent this year, analysts say.

Chinese travellers shunning tour groups for free and easy trips to Southeast Asia

Factors such as the shortage of direct long-haul commercial flights are encouraging young tourists to plan their own adventures in Southeast Asia While many flight routes will slowly come back, tourist businesses in the region detect a longer-term trend away from large group experiences

Factors such as the shortage of direct long-haul commercial flights are encouraging young tourists to plan their own adventures in Southeast Asia

While many flight routes will slowly come back, tourist businesses in the region detect a longer-term trend away from large group experiences