Travellers Flock to Thailand

We track scheduled flights (what’s planned) and tracked flights (what took off) from a sample of the largest airports across the world.

Who Is Flying to Thailand?

Last month, we investigated whether the Chinese were flying abroad. Our data showed they were, with departures to Thailand showing no slack. The latest data from Thailand’s Ministry of Tourism and Sport has confirmed as much; arrivals in Thailand from China increased to 19% in March, versus 2019 averages, an increase from 11% in February (Chart A).

Elsewhere, European travellers are flocking to Thailand, with Russia the notable contributor; more are flying to Thailand now than in 2019, on average (Chart B). All other regions are yet to see the same resurgence.

Global Departure Update

Looking at data up to 8 May 2023:

• Average global departures continued to increase over the past week, now averaging 121,000 per day (Chart 1).
• China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism data confirmed preliminary data points we considered last week; domestic travel during China’s Labour Day exceeded 2019 levels by 19.1%. Spending followed, too; revenue from domestic tourism reached RMB 148bn, 128.9% higher than last year, and 0.7% higher than 2019 levels.
• Departures across Europe soared higher over the past week (+3.3% WoW) with Gatwick (+8.3% WoW) and Paris (+6.5% WoW) seeing the largest shift in demand. US airports saw another steady increase in departures (+1.5% WoW).

Information on long-term movements in flight data is available below.

China

Japan

Hong Kong

South Korea

Singapore

Thailand

US

UK

Italy

Spain

Germany

France

Canada

Bilal Hafeez is the CEO and Head of Research at Macro Hive. He spent over twenty years doing research at big banks – JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank, and Nomura, where he had various “Global Head” roles and did FX, rates and cross-markets research.

Ben Ford is a Researcher at Macro Hive. Ben studied BSc Financial Mathematics at Cardiff University and MSc Finance at Cass Business School, his dissertations were on the tails of GARCH volatility models, and foreign exchange investment strategies during crises, respectively.

Photo Credit: depositphotos.com

(The commentary contained in the above article does not constitute an offer or a solicitation, or a recommendation to implement or liquidate an investment or to carry out any other transaction. It should not be used as a basis for any investment decision or other decision. Any investment decision should be based on appropriate professional advice specific to your needs.)