Indians making up for fewer Chinese in Southeast Asia tourist hubs

With the Chinese outbound tourism traffic not growing fast enough since the Covid-19 pandemic, more and more Indians are pouring into Southeast Asia, cheering the region’s hospitality and aviation sectors.

Airlines and hospital chains are quickly tapping into India’s galloping middle class and growing spending power, media reports say.

“Southeast Asia is obviously very well positioned for a lot of the growth that is inevitably going to come from India,” an aviation analyst, Brendan Sobie, was quoted as saying.

Southeast Asian economies lean heavily on travel and tourism, with both sectors accounting for about 12 per cent of the region’s gross domestic product before the pandemic. It employs more than 40 million people.

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Chinese travellers have traditionally driven the industry in Southeast Asian countries. But data from four of the countries show that the number of Chinese visitors in May was at least 60 per cent less than May 2019.

But a sudden increase in Indian tourists has buoyed airlines, hospitality industry and tourism operators.

India the next China?

India could emerge as the next China “in terms of outbound tourism growth” over the next decade, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said in a May report.

In Thailand, the number of Indian tourists — still fewer than the Chinese in absolute terms — is only about 14 per cent lower than it was in 2019, media reports say.

In 2019, Chinese visitors spent about $197 a day in Thailand and Indians spent about $180, with both visiting for about a week, Thai official data says.

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Some 1.6 million Indians are expected to visit Thailand this year.

In May, more Indians than Chinese visited Singapore, while nearly 63,000 Indians visited Indonesia that same month compared with just over 64,000 Chinese.

Thai Airways is flying 14 flights a week to China — down from about 40 before the pandemic — and 70 a week to India.

More flights

Indian budget carrier IndiGo, which connects Southeast Asia with more than 100 flights a week, will be introducing flights to Jakarta in August and scaling up frequencies to Singapore.

“The Indian market is consistently one of our top source markets,” Minor Hotels CEO Dillip Rajakarier was quoted as saying.

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Flight bookings from India to Bangkok jumped by 270 per cent between January and June this year compared with the same period in 2019, according to Indian online travel portal Cleartrip.

Thailand’s tourist industry must understand Indians’ preferences, particularly around food and entertainment, said Somsong Sachaphimukh, vice-president of the Tourism Council of Thailand.