Thailand, Japan lose top position with Chinese tourists

Thailand and Japan are gradually losing their position as top favorite destinations for Chinese tourists due to concerns about food hygiene and safety.

Thailand and Japan were the top choices for Chinese tourists at the beginning of the year, but they fell in the third quarter. Thailand is now sixth and Japan eighth, according to China Trading Desk, a quarterly survey of Chinese tourist sentiment. The reason Chinese tourists are not enthusiastic about these two once-top destinations is that they feel unsafe.

A man stands near a casino along the Myanmar-China border, known as a hotspot for human, drug and wildlife trafficking. Photo: AFP — A man stands near a casino along the Myanmar-China border, known as a hotspot for human, drug and wildlife trafficking. Photo: *AFP*

Subramania Bhatt, CEO of China Trading Desk, said the August release of treated radioactive wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean had “significantly impacted the sentiment of Chinese people wanting to travel.” The World Health Organization and experts say seafood from Japan is safe to eat. But Chinese tourists’ fears have “turned one of their most popular destinations into one of their least desirable,” Bhatt said.

The survey was conducted among more than 10,000 Chinese visitors, with 94% of respondents under the age of 40. 23% of respondents said good food was the top motivation for visiting another country, ahead of history and culture (22%), nature (22%) and shopping (10%).

For Thailand, it’s a sense of social insecurity. Recent Chinese films like Lost in the Stars and No More Bets are fictional, not set in Thailand. But some say the plots mirror real events that have made headlines in recent years, including a Chinese woman who was pushed off a cliff in Thailand by her husband in 2019. She survived but suffered 17 broken bones.

No More Bets tells the story of a young couple who were tricked into working in a Southeast Asian country and then fell into a trap of scammers. The United Nations once estimated that there were hundreds of thousands of similar real-life cases.

The top 10 destinations that Chinese tourists prioritize and want to visit the most, in order of highest to lowest, include: Singapore, Europe, South Korea, Malaysia, Australia, Thailand, UK, Japan, USA, UAE. Singapore ranked first thanks to its geographical proximity, in the same region as Asia and is one of the safest destinations in the world in 2023.

Anh Minh (According to CNBC )

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