Chinese travel to ASEAN soars in Q1, fueled by tourism and business demand: platform

Outbound travel from the Chinese mainland to ASEAN destinations surged in the first quarter of 2025, driven by both steady growth in leisure tourism and booming business activity, according to a report sent to the Global Times by Chinese travel agency Tongcheng Travel on Wednesday.

Data from the platform showed that ticket bookings from major mainland cities to key cities in ASEAN countries, including Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, rose about 40 percent year-on-year in Q1 2025.

Flight bookings from major Chinese mainland cities to destinations such as Penang, Malaysia, rose 130 percent year-on-year. Bookings to popular cities in Vietnam increased nearly 60 percent, while those to Cambodia jumped close to 90 percent, according to the platform.

The platform attributed part of the growth to favorable visa policies. Countries like Thailand and Malaysia, which offer visa-free access to Chinese travelers, have maintained strong growth momentum since 2024.

From a demand perspective, while leisure travel continued to grow steadily, business travel between Chinese mainland cities and major destinations in Vietnam, Malaysia, Cambodia and Indonesia saw rapid growth, according to the report.

In the first quarter, ASEAN remained China's largest trading partner, with total trade reaching 1.71 trillion yuan ($234.17 billion), a 7.1 percent year-on-year increase and accounting for 16.6 percent of China's overall foreign trade, said Lü Daliang, a spokesperson for the General Administration of Customs, on Monday.