Almost a year after the Chinese government said goodbye to Zero Corona, a strict policy of lockdown and quarantine to stop the spread of the coronavirus, Chinese citizens are once again traveling abroad in droves. (Also read | West Bengal to introduce state’s first lion safari at North Bengal Zoological Park)
According to official statistics, the number of overseas travelers from mainland China reached 40.3 million in the first half of 2023. This number is expected to increase further in the second half of this year.
However, it is still far from the 155 million overseas trips taken by mainland Chinese tourists in 2019, before the pandemic struck.
The Chinese have consistently been the world’s highest-spending travelers, enjoying luxury hotels, tours, souvenirs and designer brands, and are a huge boon to global tourism.
Chinese tourists spent $255 billion (€235 billion) abroad in 2019, according to business consultancy McKinsey & Company. This number is about twice as many as Americans, three times as many as Germans, and four times as many as British tourists.
Once washed, be more careful next time.
But as China’s economy struggles to fully recover from the pandemic, a worsening real estate crisis depletes household savings and a 20% youth unemployment rate strains household budgets, Chinese tourists has become extremely cost conscious.
A survey carried out in London earlier this month found that the number of Chinese tourists visiting the British capital was just 2% below 2019 figures. But their spending has fallen by 58%, according to the New West End Company, a company set up to promote the interests of London’s West End, home to many tourist attractions.
Lobby groups are urging the UK government to reinstate the duty-free shopping scheme for tourists from outside the European Union, which was scrapped in 2020. The proposal would allow tourists to recover the 20% sales tax (VAT) they paid on their purchases upon departure. .
Market research firm Tourism Economics attributed the decline in average spending per visit to a growing number of Chinese solo travelers replacing those who typically come in large tour groups. However, he said this was likely to be a short-term decline.
Chinese tourists still pack a punch
“With continued growth in incomes and the emergence of travel classes, we expect an additional 60 million Chinese households to wish to travel within China and abroad annually over the next decade,” said Managing Director. said Dave Goodger (EMEA). ) told DW in Tourism Economics.
He said that during this period, he expects China to be the biggest contributor to the growth of long-haul travel to Europe in terms of visitor numbers and spending, overtaking the United States as the most important growth market.
Destinations across Europe are seeing a boost from tourists closer to home, while tourist attractions in Europe and the US are seeing a boost from travelers closer to home due to so-called revenge travel, with consumers prioritizing international travel after prolonged coronavirus lockdowns. Long-distance travel to the United States remains 43% lower than before the pandemic, Tourism Economics found. level. The number of missing travelers from Asia, especially China, is notable.
Goodger believes it could take up to two years for Chinese tourism to Europe to fully recover, but other research firms think it could be sooner.
“We expect Chinese travel volume to return to 2019 levels in 2025,” he told DW. “Given the ongoing wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, travel to long-haul destinations is not expected to return until 2026, especially to Europe.”
Chinese travelers avoid Thailand
Other regions and countries are also keen to revive the number of people arriving from China. For example, Thailand welcomed 11 million Chinese nationals in 2019, but in the first nine months of this year it hosted fewer than 2.5 million Chinese nationals. The Thai government had predicted twice that number.
Thailand waived visa requirements for Chinese nationals in September, and after a mass shooting at an upscale Bangkok shopping mall last month left two people dead, including a Chinese national, the Thai government has suspended visa requirements from Asia’s largest shopping mall. He proposed joint patrols by Thai and Chinese police to restore tourist confidence. economy.
Chinese social media networks are filled with videos detailing attacks on overseas Chinese tourists and mistreatment of Chinese workers. Many Chinese workers were lured with high-paying jobs in Asia, which turned out to be scams. This phenomenon was also featured in the popular Chinese movie “No More Bets,” which was released in August.
In another alarming incident, masked protesters attacked a bus carrying 41 Chinese nationals in the southern French city of Marseille in the summer, injuring several people. The attack prompted angry condemnation from the Chinese government.
New coronavirus theory fuels anti-China sentiment
When the coronavirus first emerged in China, many Chinese travelers were also concerned about traveling abroad for fear of Sinophobia, while some Western politicians called for reparations.
“The perception of safety is extremely important in destination selection and in determining which destinations are recovering most rapidly,” Goodger told DW, adding that short-haul travel and intra-Asia travel are crucial. It added that destinations closer to home were recovering the fastest.
Another factor that held Chinese tourists back until recently was the requirement for coronavirus tests to enter many countries, but Goodger said Chinese people are also facing backlogs in visa and passport applications. He said he was affected. This incident occurred even as the Chinese government gradually resumed international travel.
The gradual restoration of international flights from Chinese airports is also slowing the recovery. According to OAG, a global travel data provider, there were 4,778,271 seats on international flights to and from China in November, a 43% decrease compared to the same period in 2019.
OAG data shows flights from China to South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan have recovered much faster than flights to France, Italy and the United States, but all remain well below pre-COVID-19 levels. ing.