An up-market seafood chain in Thailand rolled out a special Chinese New Year menu aimed at Chinese nationals on vacation last week, in anticipation of one of the biggest and busiest holidays in Asia.
The restaurant’s effort is further evidence of the growing regional spending power of Chinese tourists. In Thailand has become a top draw for Chinese tourists, and is now ranked as the go-to trip for Chinese individual and group travelers – particularly since the civil unrest of 2019 in Hong Kong, which had long been the top destination for Chinese tourists.
The Savoey (which also uses the Mandarin name ‘Shang Wei Tai’) chain, which operates several locations in Bangkok, has advertised in Chinese lifestyle media outlets with the goal of raising its profile in China.
The Savoey’s Chinese New Year menu includes rock-salt flavored giant shrimp and curry crab, as well as house staples like lime-steamed sea bass and fish ball soup. Chinese travelers have already been posting on Weibo photos and positive reviews from their meals at a Savoey outlet in the food court of Terminal 21 department store in downtown Bangkok. A maître ’d at the outlet said mainland Chinese tourists represent the restaurant’s biggest consumer group aside from locals. Advertorials in mainland Chinese media and entertainment of Chinese culinary journalists have helped spread the word about the chain, she added.
“We established in 1972, so we have a good reputation, but we are now seeing more and more Chinese customers,” she said.
Other Asian seafood restaurant chains targeting the Chinese tourist market include the Singaporean high-end seafood chain Jumbo (which also trades under its Mandarin name Zhen Bao). Building off its popularity with Chinese tourists in Singapore, the firm has opened outlets in Shanghai, Beijing, and Xi’an.
While still robust, there are signs that China’s consumer and tourist spending growth is starting to level off, a trend potentially related to the growth in consumer credit in recent years, alongside a weakening of housing prices. Total debt is now equal to average income at household level, according to the People’s Bank of China, the central bank, which has been warning of the risks of excessive debt.
Retail and food and beverage sales during the most recent National Day holiday – the first week in October – grew 8.5 percent to CNY 1.52 trillion (USD 212.7 billion, EUR 198.7 billion) down from the 10 percent growth seen in the previous year.
Chinese tourists consist a quarter of Thailand’s total earnings from tourism, a sector that contributes 12.5 percent of the Southeast Asian country’s gross domestic product, based on 2018 figures.
Photo courtesy of Savoey
