As the Chinese New Year approaches, the outbound travel market has entered a booking frenzy, with bookings for Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand from China up 15 times year-on-year. 

With China's opening-up measures, including visa exemptions, the Spring Festival holidays - running from February 10 to 17 - will see a wave of Chinese tourists traveling abroad, making China an important force in promoting the development of global tourism, experts said.

On Sunday, China and Thailand signed a mutual visa exemption agreement, which will take effect from March 1. This agreement now facilitates a golden tourism route between China and Southeast Asia, as three countries - Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand - have all signed mutual visa exemption agreements with China.

The bookings of Chinese tourists traveling to the three countries during the Spring Festival holidays are up more than 15 times compared with 2023 on Chinese travel platform Trip.com.
 
Bookings for Singapore and Thailand have increased by more than 13 times, while the number of bookings for Malaysia has increased by more than 22 times. 

"Mutual visa-free agreements between China and popular outbound travel destinations like Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand will greatly facilitate the booming tourism industry in both China and Southeast Asia, enabling Chinese tourists to embark on more spontaneous trips and further promote the travel industry in the region," Qin Jing, a vice president of Trip.com, told the Global Times on Monday.

According to data from Chinese travel agency U-tour, the three countries have become popular short-haul destinations for Chinese travelers, accounting for nearly 90 percent of overall bookings for the holidays. 

The recent visa exemption agreement between China and Thailand is expected to further boost growth in the tourism market during and after the period, U-tour said in a report sent to the Global Times on Monday.

To cope with growing cross-border travel demand, airlines have added more than 2,500 international flights and charter flights during chunyun, or the Spring Festival travel rush, according to Civil Aviation Administration of China

The surge in inbound and outbound tourism comes as China has introduced measures to facilitate personnel exchanges, which fully demonstrate the country's determination to promote high-level opening-up to the outside world. 

China has concluded mutual visa exemption agreements covering different types of passports with 157 countries and regions, reached agreements or arrangements on simplified visa procedures with 44 countries and enjoyed comprehensive mutual visa exemptions with 22 countries, CGTN reported.

Visa-free agreements have the potential to greatly enhance tourism and economic development between China and relevant countries, providing a significant boost to tourism services and consumption and driving the overall economic growth, experts said.

The contribution of Chinese outbound tourism to the global economic recovery was evident in 2023 and is expected to continue this year, Tian Yun, a veteran economist, told the Global Times on Monday.

Additionally, the implementation of policies aimed at promoting inbound tourism will further contribute to the domestic economic recovery and ease the effects of decoupling and disruptions in the global supply chain, Tian added.

China earlier decided to grant a unilateral visa-free policy to Ireland, Switzerland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain.

Zurab Pololikashvili, secretary-general of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), believes that with the contribution of the Chinese market, "tourism will reach pre-epidemic levels by the end of 2024," the Xinhua News Agency reported.

"Outbound and inbound tourism from China is expected to grow rapidly in 2024 due to visa facilitation and increased airline capacity," according to the World Tourism Barometer, published by the UNWTO on Friday.

The China Tourism Academy predicted that the recovery of China's inbound and outbound tourism market will accelerate in 2024, with the total number of visits exceeding 264 million and tourism revenue exceeding $107 billion.