Destination desolation

Chinese tourists pose for photos with the Marina Bay Sands casino and hotel in the central business district of Singapore in May. [Photo/Agencies]

Southeast Asian countries continue to lure Chinese tourists. But fewer are answering their call. Erik Nilsson reports.

The relative decline of Chinese tourists to Southeast Asia is to an extent a story of paradise lost - but is perhaps more so a testament to new paradises found.

Outbound Chinese travel to the region has plummeted this year by nearly 40 percent in Singapore's case.

Discussion surrounding the startling drop - the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' five-year tourism development plan is aimed toward Chinese and Indian visitor influxes - has largely honed in on a new, perceived undesirability of old favorite destinations.

Media point to territorial disputes with the Philippines and Vietnam; the disappearance of flight MH370; Thailand's instability; and Singapore losing influence as a gateway to aforementioned destinations.

That's all true.

But insiders explain the bigger picture is the otherwise changing dynamics of China's outbound tourism.

The United Nations World Travel Organization's Asia-Pacific director Xu Jing calls the widely reported view of a decline of Chinese tourists to the region a "misconception".