China reopening gains remain limited to Singapore and other ASEAN-4 markets

The only upside to China's reopening is the potential increase in outbound tourism.

The reopening of China may come as a surprise but the benefits it will bring to ASEAN-4 countries, including Singapore, will be limited, an analyst said.

“The reopening was meant to offset a faltering economy and whether this will be enough for the long run is unknown. We are cautiously optimistic,” said CGS-CIMB.

The return of Chinese tourists is perhaps the only major upside for ASEAN, the broker also said.

The total tourist arrivals have yet to reach the 2019 level for any of the ASEAN-4 countries. 

“Thus far, the number of Chinese travellers is only 20% of the arrivals seen before the pandemic was declared,” said CGS-CIMB.

Despite this, the analyst sees the return of Chinese tourists to be gradual, potentially taking up to a year to surpass the previous peak in 2019.