China Opens To The World

In a remarkable development this past week, China has flung open its doors to the world, reinstating the vast array of group travel opportunities that were once the norm for Chinese global travelers before the era of Covid-19.

This marks a significant and, hopefully, final stride in the rekindling of Chinese global travel.

Announced last Thursday, China has now resumed group tours to an additional 78 countries, encompassing coveted destinations such as Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Australia. The news instantaneously ignited a surge of inquiries to travel agencies, propelling them to swiftly introduce new travel options to these captivating destinations.

According to a notice from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, effective immediately, travel agencies and online travel companies are greenlit to recommence group travel services to these 78 diverse destinations.

This move comes on the heels of China having already reinstated outbound group tours to 60 countries earlier this year, during February and March.

Ever since the tentative return of outbound group travel for Chinese citizens, the overall outbound tourism market has maintained a sense of stability and organization, playing a constructive role in fostering tourism exchanges and collaborative efforts, as stated in the official notice.

In 2019, prior to the pandemic's impact, China boasted the world's largest outbound tourism market, with a staggering 169 million trips recorded that year alone, as per data from the China National Bureau of Statistics.

With international flights progressively resuming and a growing readiness among Chinese travelers to venture abroad, China has taken the decisive step to recommence outbound group tours to an even wider range of countries, as affirmed by the China Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement released on Thursday.

Following the announcement, online travel services provider Trip.com Group reported an astronomical twentyfold increase in outbound travel inquiries, with a notable focus on the upcoming weeklong National Day holiday in October. Capitalizing on this surge of interest, Trip.com expediently introduced nearly 1,000 new travel products. As outbound group travel gains momentum, experts predict a subsequent reduction in costs and increased affordability of travel packages.

The recent months also witnessed a 44 percent surge in outbound tourism bookings by Trip.com users on the Chinese mainland, spanning from June to July. Among the sought-after destinations are Tokyo, Bangkok, Hong Kong, and Macao.

Concurrently, the tally of weekly international flights for this month has already surpassed the 50 percent mark in comparison to the same period in 2019. Furthermore, ticket prices have plummeted by a substantial 80 percent in contrast to the corresponding time last year, as reported by Trip.com.

Data from Meituan, the on-demand service behemoth, revealed an impressive sevenfold spike in searches for hotel accommodations abroad, with searches for hotels in South Korea surging fifteenfold and Japan experiencing a twelvefold increase.

This new policy is poised to unleash the latent potential of tourism consumption, infusing the global economic recovery with a newfound sense of optimism.

During the first half of this year, travelers from the Chinese mainland embarked on 40.37 million outbound journeys. The list of preferred travel destinations in the Asia-Pacific region includes Japan, South Korea, and Australia, while the United Kingdom, Germany, Finland, Sweden, as well as Middle Eastern countries like Qatar, Oman, Lebanon, and Israel, also feature prominently.

This buoyant development is set to invigorate the tourism sectors of key markets such as the United States, Japan, South Korea, and Australia, as China lifts pandemic-era restrictions on group tours to these countries. Before the pandemic, Chinese tourists were renowned for their substantial spending overseas, contributing a combined $255 billion in 2019. Group tours were estimated to constitute around 60 percent of this expenditure.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo celebrated this as a "significant win" for the U.S. tourism industry, underscoring the months of tireless collaboration between the U.S. Commerce Department and the Chinese culture and tourism ministry.

Germany and Britain were among the countries to see their restrictions lifted, while Canada, embroiled in a complex relationship with China, was notably excluded.

This marks China's third list of countries receiving approvals. The initial batch, greenlit in January, encompassed 20 countries such as Thailand, Russia, Cuba, and Argentina. The second batch, unveiled in March, included 40 countries, featuring Nepal, France, Portugal, and Brazil.

The move has garnered enthusiastic endorsements from Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, as well as tourism ministers in South Korea and Australia, who foresee a promising boost to their respective economies.

"This is another positive step towards the stabilization of our relationship with China," commented Australian Trade and Tourism Minister Don Farrell.

Despite a global economy that has experienced fluctuations, a striking 40 percent of Chinese individuals express their intention to increase their travel expenditures, according to Steve Saxon, a partner at McKinsey & Co. This surge in interest reflects people's desire to utilize the savings amassed during the pandemic for international travel experiences.

Trip.com, China's premier travel agency, reported a surge in searches for destinations such as Australia and Japan, with these countries, along with other Asian nations and the United States, dominating the preferences of Chinese travelers.

"The opening of group travel from China to the U.S. is a significant milestone," affirmed Adam Burke, head of the Los Angeles Tourism and Convention Board. "The importance of Chinese tourism to Los Angeles cannot be overstated."

From Shanghai

Alexander Glos