High price and Flight Cancellations Disrupt Tourism in Southeast Asia and China

CHINA: With the economic recovery after the epidemic, Southeast Asian countries continue to promote the development of tourism. Popular tourist destinations in Southeast Asia, such as Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam, have successively launched visa-free and tourism promotion policies in recent years, hoping to attract more Chinese tourists and promote the further development of local tourism.

Air ticket prices continue to rise.Source: Katie Couric Media 

As of recently, there has been an increase in ticket prices and flight cancellations or rescheduling of some flights in Southeast Asia and China .Since March 2026, many Chinese airlines have successively increased fuel surcharges for international routes, and even Southeast Asian flights have been reduced and cancelled. According to CNR, Spring Airlines, Auspicious Airlines, Xiamen Airlines and other Chinese airlines have successively adjusted the fuel surcharges of international routes. The surcharge of some Chinese cities to Malaysia and Singapore has been adjusted to 550 yuan (RM320.93) per section, while some flights to Indonesia have risen to 600 yuan (RM350.11).

At the same time, many airlines have also reduced flights. China Business Journal reported in May that due to the continued high international oil prices, some airlines such as Air China, China Southern Airlines and Spring Airlines cancelled flights in different ways, and even AirAsia, as the representative of low-cost airlines, cancelled some flights, such as Shanghai to Don Mueang, Bangkok and its Xi'an round trips.

The rise in air tickets is gradually affecting the willingness of Chinese tourists to travel, and some tourists are reducing their international tourism plans or turning to the domestic and short-distance tourism market. 

Tongcheng Yilong and Qunar, an online tourism platform, revealed to CCTV that after the suspension of Airways Thailand and Air China, the number of outbound ticket searches decreased by 12% month-on-month, while the search volume of keywords such as "Xinjiang Self-driving Tour" and "Zhejiang Ancient Town Tour" soared by 35%. International tourism has lost its traditional price advantage to a certain extent. This change reflects that the behaviour of tourism consumers is changing.

Compared with traditional media, social media has become the main platform for the public to obtain information, express opinions and express emotions. On social media Xiaohongshu, Weibo and other platforms, content such as "tickets are too expensive" and "additional fees rise" continue to appear, which has aroused a lot of heated discussion. Many netizens said that the price of air tickets was significantly higher than that of the same period last year, and some passengers had to change their plans or choose other ways to travel.Some netizens said, "After the air ticket plus the hotel fee, the overall budget has exceeded expectations." Even some netizens posted that they did not understand the overall price of air tickets.

At present, the aviation market is still unbalanced. Recently, surcharges are still rising. Rising fuel costs, flight scheduling pressure and uneven recovery of international routes will remain on an upward trend in the short term.

Overall, high fares and flight cancellations have a double impact on the tourism market between Southeast Asia and China. On the one hand, the travel cost and uncertainty of travellers have increased, and on the other hand, social media also provides people with a communication platform to become the focus of public discussion. At present, cross-border tourism will still face certain challenges.