THINK CHINA

ASEAN MARKETS

Southeast Asia has the greatest overseas Chinese population outside China and is the top travel destinations for Chinese outbound tourists. Chinese communities in these countries are the key consumer groups driving the growth of lots of business categories like skincare, cosmetic/beauty, fashion and luxury goods etc.

The Largest Chinese Community

There are over 9.3 million ethnic Chinese in Thailand, 6.6 million in Malaysia, 7.2 million in Indonesia, 2.6 million in Singapore…. These Asian countries form the biggest Chinese community outside China. A large portion of these millions of Chinese are wealthy, middle-class consumers who are also the driving force of the local consumer markets. They speak Chinese at home, use Chinese digital tools to connect with their family and friends in China.

ASEAN MARKETS

By the Numbers

26 million

Chinese community

In the five founding members of ASEAN, there are a total of over 26 million ethnic Chinese citizens, that's the biggest Chinese community outside mainland China

$140 billion

Trade volume

ASEAN-China trade increased by 6% year-on-year to USD 140 billion in 2020. This makes ASEAN become China’s largest trading partner, surpassing EU and U.S.

10.99 million

Chinese visitors to Thailand

ASEAN countries are the major destinations for the ever-growing Chinese outbound tourists. Thailand receives over 10 million Chinese tourists annually, which is the no.1 Chinese outbound tourist destination.

20 million

WeChat Users in Malaysia

Malaysia is one of the key markets for WeChat, in a country with over 30 million population, WeChat is believed to have 20 million users with its WeChat Pay introducing to lots of local business.

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Asia Pacific Market Market Insights

Will Chinese tourists continue to boost the tourism growth in ASEAN countries in the post Covid era?

ASEAN countries are the booming travelling markets in Asia. According to the report from GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, the number of international visitors to the ASEAN region is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 4.72%, from 129.2 million in 2018 to 155.4 million in 2022. If we just take a look at the 2019 data, Thailand received 39.80 million international visitors in 2019, the biggest market in the ASEAN region. Malaysia took 2nd position with 20.1 million visitors. Vietnam surprisingly is the 3rd biggest travelling market with 18 million visitors in 2019. Singapore and Indonesia ranked the 4th and 5th position with 15.9 million and 13.62 million visitors, respectively.

Related Insights

Will Chinese tourists continue to boost the tourism growth in ASEAN countries in the post Covid era?

Snapshots of online market size of ASEAN countries

Insights of Chinese tourists in Singapore and Malaysia

Chinese beauty daigou in ASEAN region

Integrated Online to Offline Chinese social media campaign

Integrated Social and Offline Campaign

Think China’s integrated campaign utilised its own and paid channels to promote QVB’s Chinese New Year offerings and activities at the shopping centre. The campaign integrated multiple touchpoints with the brand’s WeChat account.

Tourist-targeting Campaign for Lunar New Year

Geo-targeting Communication to Chinese Tourists and Local Chinese Community in Malaysia

Think China custom-made a campaign strategy to help promote Lancôme Malaysia LNY promotional offers and acquire WeChat subscribers among Chinese outbound tourists and the local Chinese community in Malaysia.

Build a Long-Term Ecosystem for Aesop

Aesop WeChat Official Account: A Social CRM - enabling potential Chinese customers in China, Australia and New Zealand markets to learn, experience and purchase Aesop, to transform target audiences into brand advocates.

Thinker, Planners, Creators.

Meet Our People

Benjamin Sun

Managing Director

Benjamin is very much a Digital Sherpa, a digital marketer and researcher with extensive knowledge in Chinese digital marketing.

Rachael Li

Account Director

Rachael specializes in the China and Hong Kong markets, leveraging her background in creative copywriting and content creation to effectively captivate client audiences, especially Chinese tourists.