Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin (4th L, front) welcomes Chinese tourists at Suvarnabhumi airport in Bangkok, Thailand, Sep 25, 2023. Photo:Xinhua

As China continues to facilitate cross-border travel, the increasing number of Chinese tourists going abroad will contribute to the recovery of the global tourism sector with their strong spending power, observers said, amid more measures launched by individual countries to draw in Chinese tourists. 

The Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) and WeChat Pay have launched a consumer voucher campaign to provide more convenient and discounted services for Chinese tourists visiting South Korea, news website china.org.cn reported on Monday.

That's just one example of Chinese digital travel innovation, which allows both Chinese outbound travelers and overseas tourists to travel and pay hassle-free globally, and merchants to expand cross-border consumer engagement and digital marketing.

According to the KTO, South Korea received nearly 1.42 million international visitor trips in June this year, close to the same period in 2019. The Chinese mainland accounted for the largest number of visitors at 397,000.

In May, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) became the first national tourism promotion agency to launch the Alipay+ D-hub, an in-app digital platform designed to customize travel experiences based on user preferences, providing essential travel and cultural information and exclusive promotions for tourists visiting Thailand. 

The collaboration plays a crucial role in reviving the number of Chinese tourists to Thailand and supporting the rapid growth of digital payment services. With growing Alipay+ acceptance, it brings economic stimulation, particularly to secondary Thai cities and small and medium-sized enterprises, the Xinhua News Agency reported, citing Chattan Kunjara Na Ayudhya, TAT deputy governor.

The Alipay+ network covers more than 400,000 merchants across Thailand. Thailand received more than 12.12 million foreign tourists in the first four months of 2024, a rise of 39 percent from a year earlier, data from the Ministry of Tourism and Sports showed.

Those collaborations will enhance convenience for Chinese outbound tourists and promote cross-border tourism between China and other countries, said experts.

They also noted that Chinese tourists are a driving force in the global tourism industry, with many countries keenly awaiting the return of travel and spending from the world's biggest source market of outbound travelers.

"Chinese outbound tourists, with their considerable purchasing power, are poised to greatly stimulate the global tourism industry," Wang Peng, an associate research fellow at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Monday. 

Wang noted that tourism is a multi-faceted consumption activity that will spur growth in related sectors including catering, entertainment and retail. The introduction of digital mobile payments will provide Chinese customers with a better travel experience and encourage more Chinese tourists to spend.

Chinese tourists are back with a vengeance on the global tourism stage. According to a forecast by the China Tourism Academy, the number of outbound trips by Chinese tourists will reach 130 million in 2024. This figure is close to the number of Chinese outbound tourist trips in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic, which stood at 155 million.

Travel originating from the Chinese mainland has increased by close to 400 percent overall globally this year, with some destinations seeing surges of more than 2,000 percent, according to data from Sabre Market Intelligence.