Malaysia set for surge of Chinese visitors for May Day

Flights to Malaysia are set to surge during China's upcoming May Day holiday, leading growth among Southeast Asian destinations as outbound travel demand continues to increase, industry data has shown.

According to Chinese civil aviation data provider Flight Master, as of Thursday airlines have scheduled more than 100 additional flights to Malaysia for the five-day break starting from May 1, a 28.5 percent year-on-year increase.

In Southeast Asia, Vietnam and Singapore are also seeing steady capacity growth, alongside Malaysia's expansion.

Short-haul routes remain the backbone of the outbound holiday travel, with South Korea, Thailand and China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, ranking as the top three outbound destinations by planned flight volume, the data showed.

Meanwhile, a cluster of less traditional outbound destinations, particularly countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative, including Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkiye, are recording faster growth rates, with flight increases exceeding 70 percent, reflecting a gradual diversification of Chinese travelers' preferences.

On the domestic front, established travel hubs such as Kunming in Yunnan province, Sanya and Haikou in Hainan province are maintaining high base traffic levels with continued flight additions. Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region stands out as one of the strongest growth regions, with significant increases in routes to Urumqi as well as Kashgar and Yining.