PETALING JAYA: An estimate of 200,000 tourists from China would visit Malaysia during the Labor Day break, says Malaysian Chinese Tourism Association president Paul Paw.

Although the number of tourists has not reached pre-pandemic levels, Paw believes the number of Chinese nationals visiting Malaysia will continue to rise.

The Labor Day break, described as the golden week holiday in China when the Chinese will take a break from work for traveling or visiting, is the first long holiday since China reopened its borders after the Covid-19 pandemic.

Hunan Ribao of China reported that 240 million Chinese were expected to travel during the Labor Day break and the number will likely break the previous record set in 2019, quoting the China Tourism Academy.

Entrance tickets at major tourist destinations across China are hard to buy in some of the more popular cities where the Chinese are expected to travel an average of 280 km in the country during the break.

The number of Chinese nationals vacationing overseas continues to rise while the number of Chinese leaving the country via Shanghai’s international airport hits 217,000.

Paw told Sin Chew Daily that Malaysia is not the only country to gain from the multitude of outbound Chinese tourists.

Based on the association’s figures, Paw said about 100,000 tourists from China would arrive in Malaysia on chartered flights, about 40,000 fly into Malaysia from a third country, 50,000 enter the country by road from Singapore and Thailand, and about 10,000 arrive on cruise.

The Labor Day break is the first long holiday since China reopened its borders after the pandemic. Many Chinese nationals are believed to be indulging in revenge tourism, Paw said.

Mint Leong, deputy president of Malaysia Inbound Tourism Association, said the number of tourists from China visiting Malaysia is on the rise.

She said the number of flights from China to Malaysia has been reduced drastically and has remained low compared to pre-pandemic levels.

She estimated the number of tourists from China to be only around 20% of pre-pandemic levels.

However, Malaysia is still among the ten most favorite destinations among Chinese tourists.

The top three are Thailand, Japan and South Korea.