In May 2023, tourism in Southeast Asia continued to recover, but the overall performance was mixed. International tourist arrivals in Southeast Asia decreased by 3.8% in May 2023, from 6,048,862 to 5,819,587. Thailand remained the most popular destination, with 10,673,490 arrivals, or 36% of the total. Singapore was the second most popular destination, with 5,151,604 arrivals, or 18% of the total.
Despite a drop of 8.35%, Thailand saved its crown as the leading destination in South East Asia with 2,013,852 arrivals in May. Singapore welcomed 1,112,486 arrivals – a drop of 1.45% compared to last month. Vietnam was out of the top three destinations and was taken by Indonesia with 945,590 arrivals. Indonesia also achieved the highest growth rate in the area with an increase of 8.44%.
Recovery and tourism target rate
Until May, Cambodia had an outstanding recovery index and was near to achieving full recovery (93.48%). The second and third were Indonesia (75.68%) and Singapore (74.66%). The lowest recovery rate in the area was in the Philippines with a rate of 62.61%.
Vietnam maintained its performance in achieving its 2023 target with the highest completion rate of 57.50% as of May followed by Indonesia and Cambodia. As mentioned previously, the tourism target rate is purposed to serve as a reference and not a comparison between destinations.
Source: Statistics from National Tourism Departments
Here are some highlights
Top 3 Southeast Asian destinations with the largest numbers of international arrivals in May 2023:
Thailand: 2,013,852. In May, Thailand had the second-to-lowest growth rate as well as the lowest target reach but still maintained its position as the leading Southeast Asia destination.
Singapore: 1,112,486. Singapore continued to experience a light drop in May, recovered almost 75% compared to the pre-pandemic period.
Indonesia: 945,590. Indonesia was officially in the top three for the first time this year. It took out Vietnam with an impressive growth rate of 8.44%, the highest growth rate in the area. This significance is the result of some key events that happened in May such as the ASEAN summit. From July, Indonesia also sets a new target of 8.5 million foreign arrivals in 2023 instead of 7.4 million arrivals as before.
Top 3 Southeast Asian destinations with the highest recovery rate in May 2023:
Cambodia: 93.48%
Indonesia: 75.68%
Singapore: 74.66%
In June, Indonesia remained the country with the largest capacity in the aviation sector, making up 29% of the region’s capacity. Vietnam remained the second largest and only country with increased capacity in June 2023, accounting for 19% of the region’s aviation capacity. Thailand was third-placed with 5.8 million seats and accounted for 16% of the capacity of the region.
Source: OAG, updated 6/30/2023
The top route in Southeast Asia remains Hanoi (HAN) to Ho Chi Minh City (SGN) with 927k seats, an increase of 9% in June compared to May 2023. Five of the top ten domestic routes in Southeast Asia are internal Indonesian flights with Jakarta (CGK) to Denpasar-Bali (DPS) continuing to be the largest of these and ranked second largest in the region. Besides, capacity grew on all Vietnamese routes in the top ten, with Nha Trang Cam Ranh (CXR) to Hanoi (HAN) growing by 47% compared to last month.
With regard to international routes, Singapore continues to be a key hub in Southeast Asia, and seven of the top ten international routes in the region start or end in Singapore. The top four international routes are between Singapore and other major regional hub airports – Kuala Lumpur (KUL), Jakarta (CGK), Bangkok (BKK), and Denpasar-Bali (DPS). Kuala Lumpur (KUL) to Singapore (SIN) remains the busiest flight route with 418k seats. The following routes grew the most in the top ten this month increasing capacity by 11%:
• Penang (PEN) to Singapore (SIN)
• Bangkok (BKK) to Hong Kong (HKG)
