Chinese tourists are on the move again. They’re not coming to Hawaiʻi in large numbers, but many are venturing outside of China — part of a growing trend in the region.
Southeast Asia is turning out to be a very popular tourist destination in the early days of the Year of the Dragon.
Government figures show Chinese visitors in the Lunar New Year travel season beat pre-COVID levels for trips to Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia.
All three of those locations dropped visa requirements for Chinese visitors — helping to boost their arrival numbers.
South Korea and Japan also saw a bump in Chinese travelers over the Lunar New Year, though less pronounced than in Southeast Asia.
Overall travel to Japan saw another sharp increase in January. It is up 80% from a year earlier roughly back to the pre-COVID level of 2019.
The biggest number of visitors to Japan came from South Korea, followed by Taiwan and then China.
And despite a persistently weak yen, more Japanese are traveling overseas compared to last year. However, there is still some distance to go to reach pre-pandemic levels.
The number of Japanese travelers heading out of the country is still down more than 40% compared with 2019.
