Sluggish China market prompts air service changes

[reader]

From The Thaiger

Nok Air intends to reduce its flights to mainland China this year due to slow market growth and will instead focus on expanding its services to India, Japan, Taiwan, and Singapore.

The airline’s Chief Executive, Wutthiphum Jurangkool, highlighted the shift in Chinese tourists’ preferences towards Japan over Thailand and noted the Chinese government’s lack of support for outbound travel. Safety concerns among Chinese travellers related to scams and human trafficking in Thailand have further impacted Thai airlines.

 

Since January, Nok Air has decreased its weekly flights to China from 16 to 12, covering Nanning, Zhengzhou, and Nanjing. The airline may adjust these flight schedules in the future. With the sluggish Chinese market in January, a passenger target for 2025 is yet to be set.

To maintain growth, the airline plans to increase its presence in other international markets, aiming to improve aircraft utilisation rates.

https://thethaiger.com/news/national/nok-air-shifts-focus-from-china-to-india-japan-taiwan-singapore

 

 

[Moses]

12 hours ago, reader said:

With the sluggish Chinese market in January, a passenger target for 2025 is yet to be set.

The Chinese market is not sluggish. This is the NOC's excuse because it missed the trends in the season when it was necessary to act quickly and react to changes.

Concurrently, Japan emerged as a favored alternative. According to a Nikkei Asia report, Japan became the top international destination for Chinese tourists during the eight-day Lunar New Year holiday ending February 4, 2025, with flight bookings doubling from the previous year. The Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) later confirmed that 980,300 mainland Chinese tourists arrived in Japan throughout January 2025, comprising 26% of total foreign arrivals—a 41% increase from January 2024’s figures. This surge aligns with Cirium’s aviation data, which noted Japan overtaking Thailand as Mainland China’s top international market, with a 59% capacity increase in flights to Japan for the Lunar New Year period.

Early numbers from Thailand show nearly 711,000 Chinese visitors through February 2, 2025, per the Tourism Authority of Thailand—significant, but well below the 9 million annual target and a sign of weakened momentum.

[PeterRS]

1 hour ago, Moses said:

The Chinese market is not sluggish. This is the NOC's excuse because it missed the trends in the season when it was necessary to act quickly and react to changes.

Concurrently, Japan emerged as a favored alternative.

A good friend has just returned from three months in Tokyo. He confirms that the nunbers of Chinese tourists has mushroomed recently, partly a result of the cheaper ¥ and partly because it is perceived as more safe than Thailand! 

[Keithambrose]

8 hours ago, PeterRS said:

A good friend has just returned from three months in Tokyo. He confirms that the nunbers of Chinese tourists has mushroomed recently, partly a result of the cheaper ¥ and partly because it is perceived as more safe than Thailand! 

Japan is a lot more expensive. 

[PeterRS]

1 hour ago, Keithambrose said:

Japan is a lot more expensive. 

It used to be a lot more expensive. Sure it's more expensive than Thailand. But it has become a lot cheaper for international travellers. It is not that many years ago when the ¥ was below 100 to US$1. Now it is a fraction less than 150. And when you add in the safety factor, it's now much more attractive to a great many tourists. 

[Keithambrose]

7 hours ago, PeterRS said:

It used to be a lot more expensive. Sure it's more expensive than Thailand. But it has become a lot cheaper for international travellers. It is not that many years ago when the ¥ was below 100 to US$1. Now it is a fraction less than 150. And when you add in the safety factor, it's now much more attractive to a great many tourists. 

Fair point that the yen has weakened, but I think food, though excellent is still pretty pricey.

[PeterRS]

3 hours ago, Keithambrose said:

Fair point that the yen has weakened, but I think food, though excellent is still pretty pricey.

I'm sorry to disagree again but I rarely pay more than ¥1,200 - ¥1,500 for a meal and that usually includes a beer. Sure, western-style restaurants like the one that became my favourite and was near my apartment, the long-established Chianti's in Nishi-Azabu, were very much for expense account clients (I heard that it might have been a victim of covid - very sad!). But in Japan if I am on my own and not being entertained by clients I usually eat Japanese style in inexpensive to modest eateries. There you can get a wonderful variety of dishes.

Another ploy for those who really are on a tight budget is to go to the basement supermarkets in the main department stores. So many individual counters will have ladies offering you samples of their specialities. In my younger years I would often sample as many as I could (while being as unobtrusive as I could) and enjoy a rather pleasant evening meal! Now I feel slightly more guilty to try that again!

[Keithambrose]

2 hours ago, PeterRS said:

I'm sorry to disagree again but I rarely pay more than ¥1,200 - ¥1,500 for a meal and that usually includes a beer. Sure, western-style restaurants like the one that became my favourite and was near my apartment, the long-established Chianti's in Nishi-Azabu, were very much for expense account clients (I heard that it might have been a victim of covid - very sad!). But in Japan if I am on my own and not being entertained by clients I usually eat Japanese style in inexpensive to modest eateries. There you can get a wonderful variety of dishes.

Another ploy for those who really are on a tight budget is to go to the basement supermarkets in the main department stores. So many individual counters will have ladies offering you samples of their specialities. In my younger years I would often sample as many as I could (while being as unobtrusive as I could) and enjoy a rather pleasant evening meal! Now I feel slightly more guilty to try that again!

Perhaps I ate too often in hotels or restaurants  with clients. A shabu shabu meal in my hotel, with a beer and a sake, 4 years ago was £100. The exchange rate alteration will have helped that, but I'm sure prices will have gone up. 

[PeterRS]

Even in my many dozens of visits before and after I lived there, I rarely ate in hotels unless breakfast was part of the overnight package. Sometimes friends recommdended tiny restaurants virtually in apartments where a couple of guys had set up their own restaurants with excellent food at much cheaper prices. These places rarely accommodated more than 16 diners - and were often full. One good tip for those who wanted more than just Japanese food was to go to more fancy restaurants at lunch time. Many would have prix fixe menus far cheaper than one would pay for the same dishes in the evenings. Portions might be slightly smaller, but they were great value. Not sure if this still exists.

[Keithambrose]

10 hours ago, PeterRS said:

Even in my many dozens of visits before and after I lived there, I rarely ate in hotels unless breakfast was part of the overnight package. Sometimes friends recommdended tiny restaurants virtually in apartments where a couple of guys had set up their own restaurants with excellent food at much cheaper prices. These places rarely accommodated more than 16 diners - and were often full. One good tip for those who wanted more than just Japanese food was to go to more fancy restaurants at lunch time. Many would have prix fixe menus far cheaper than one would pay for the same dishes in the evenings. Portions might be slightly smaller, but they were great value. Not sure if this still exists.

My hotels always had breakfast! Supper was almost always with clients, hence expense. Fugu fish restaurant,  a restaurant that only served lobster, cooked in many ways, a restaurant that only served pork from the black pigs of Kagoshima, whale restaurant (!), etc. I ate sometimes in the hotel if I arrived late afternoon from UK, and was exhausted,  especially if I had to play golf the next day!

[macaroni21]

I don't find eating in Japan expensive - provided one is prepared to eat at places the locals eat. I too am more than happy at the tiny family-run restaurants; they serve good food for less than 1500 yen most times. Occasionally, I've had a lovely ramen meal for under 1000 yen.

Sure, it's still more expensive than eating in Thailand at places Thais eat, but I find that for the Thai price (e.g their food courts), hygiene standards are somewhat suspect and too many dishes are too spicy for me.

As for Chinese tourists, don't underestimate their purchasing power. Also, unlike many Westerners, they will find Japanese food relatively familiar, so it's hardly difficult for them to eat at local Japanese eateries. I doubt if meal costs in Japan is much of a factor in choosing Japan as a destination.