PRC outbound tourism recovery

Beginning 6 February 2023 the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People's Republic of China has initiated rollout of a pilot program of outbound group tours to Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and 17 other primarily Asia-Pacific countries.

In the week ending 5 March, outbound air trips from the PRC were up 30% from the 6 February level.

Thailand expects 2023 inbound from PRC to recover to 64% of 2019 level in 2023.

Operators expect the PRC government to authorize group tours to additional countries in March or April in preparation for the "Labor Day Golden Week" coming up 1 May.

The 3 Golden Weeks (the other 2 begin at Lunar New Year in January/February and Mid-Autumn Festival about 1 October) were initiated by the PRC government in 1999 to expand domestic tourism by enabling people to make longer trips to visit relatives.