Global tourism industry welcomes (international discourse), and China's outbound tourism expands to include ethnic clothing | China | Global

At Budapest Airport in Hungary, a woman dressed in Hungarian ethnic clothing welcomes Chinese tourists.

Photo by Fergie Otilo

Recently, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China issued a notice on piloting the resumption of travel agencies operating group tours for Chinese citizens to relevant countries and regions. Starting from today, national travel agencies and online tourism enterprises will resume operating group tours and "flight+hotel" services for Chinese citizens to relevant countries and regions. The newly added list includes 78 countries and regions, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan and Türkiye. At this point, the number of pilot outbound team tours to 138 countries and regions in China has increased.

Foreign media analysis suggests that China has basically fully opened up to major global travel destination countries. This will not only add fuel to the Chinese outbound tourism market, but also inject more confidence and momentum into the global tourism market's recovery.

"Consumer demand is being released"

According to Reuters, the first international cruise ship from Shanghai to Japan on August 11th, following China's increase in outbound group travel destinations, boosted the struggling cruise industry after the pandemic. According to reports, on the day before the departure of the Blue Dream Star cruise ship, China cleared obstacles for its citizens to further resume international travel and announced the third batch of countries and regions to resume outbound team tours, including important markets such as the United States, Japan, and South Korea. This cruise ship, operated by Shanghai Blue Dream Cruise Line and carrying over 1000 passengers, will sail to Fukuoka, Kumamoto, Kagoshima, and Nagasaki in Japan.

According to Yonhap News Agency, on August 10th, China announced the resumption of team tours to South Korea. As of the morning of August 11th, a total of 53 cruise ships departing from Shanghai have applied to stop at the port of Jeju on the way. As a result, until March next year, all docking applications for Jeju Port and Jiangting Port will be fully booked.

On August 11th local time, the US Department of Transportation issued a statement stating that starting from September 1st this year, the number of Chinese passenger flights allowed to travel to and from the United States per week will increase to 18, and from October 29th to 24. At present, there are 12 round-trip flights per week. The statement also stated that the Chinese government has agreed to double the number of weekly US passenger flights to and from China.

China is an important customer source market for the United States. Chris Thomson, CEO of Brand America, a national tourism promotion agency, stated in June this year that the US tourism industry cannot fully recover to pre pandemic levels unless a large number of Chinese tourists return to the United States. The organization has planned to increase its promotion in China and increase the number of Chinese tourists visiting the United States in the second half of this year.

"Are there any direct flight products to the UK now?" "What are the group tour products to Osaka and Kyoto in Japan now?" "When can there be a route to New Zealand?" With the announcement of the expansion of the group tour country list, the number of user inquiries on the outbound product page of online travel platforms exceeds that of summer weekdays by more than 10 times. Multiple foreign media have noticed that after the release of the notice, the search for outbound travel products on the Ctrip platform has instantly increased by more than 20 times. Among them, the National Day departure period is the most popular, and the popularity of group products in countries such as Australia and New Zealand has skyrocketed; On the same journey platform, Türkiye and Australia have the highest search and consultation popularity; The average increase in geothermal energy for overseas destinations within Mafengwo Station exceeds 150%, with Japan ranking first with an instantaneous visit heat of up to 350%.

According to a report by Nomura Securities, "As many tourists flock to attractions, restaurants, and hotels, consumer demand is being released," said Imke Waters, a partner at American consulting firm Orwell, in an interview with the website. "The confidence of Chinese consumers is growing.".

"Travel needs and preferences have changed"

Since the Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism announced the first and second batch of outbound team tour countries earlier this year, outbound tourism has shown a good trend of orderly recovery. The "2023 Big Data Report on Outbound Tourism in the First Half of the Year" recently released by the China Tourism Research Institute shows that in the first half of the year, outbound tourism destinations received a total of 40.37 million mainland tourists, with short distance outbound tourism being the first to recover, and 93.95% of outbound tourism destinations concentrated in Asia.

According to an article published on the New Zealand News Editorial Office website, New Zealand is one of the first 20 destinations for China to resume outbound team tours. Although it is a team trip, it is enough to give New Zealand a leading position in the tourism market. Auckland Airport CEO Carly Hurihanganu said that Chinese tourists are returning to New Zealand at a faster rate than other countries, and in just four months, the number has returned to 84% of pre pandemic levels. It is expected that by September this year, Chinese tourists will reach 93% of pre pandemic levels. Chinese individual freelance tourists are increasing, and New Zealand tourism companies need to be prepared to launch differentiated tourism projects.

According to Singapore's Lianhe Zaobao, Chinese tourists used to follow groups when traveling abroad, but in recent years more and more people choose to travel freely. They use the Internet to plan their own itinerary, book flights and hotels.

Ma Xu, Asia Sales Director of the well-known Thai hotel brand Shengtai Le Hotels and Resorts Group, said, "After the resumption of outbound tourism in China, we immediately communicated information with Chinese travel agencies and found that after three years of the epidemic, the travel needs and preferences of Chinese tourists have changed. Overall, the recovery of luxury hotels is stronger. Chinese tourists who are the first to travel abroad prefer to experience safe and high-quality accommodation, and price is not the first consideration. This trend is very obvious."

According to the website of Tourism Weekly, China was the world's largest outbound tourism market in terms of travel time and consumption before the COVID-19 epidemic. A recent survey by McKinsey&Company found that in 2019, there were 155 million Chinese citizens traveling abroad, with tourism expenditures of $255 billion. This survey also found that the enthusiasm of Chinese tourists to explore overseas destinations has not diminished, with about 40% of respondents reporting plans for outbound leisure tourism.

Deutsche Welle quoted German tourism experts as predicting that China is the world's largest source market for tourists, with an estimated number of Chinese tourists reaching 110 million in 2023. By 2030, this number is expected to increase to 228 million people.

According to a report on the website of the Spanish newspaper, China is an increasingly important market, not only due to the strong size of China's middle-income group, which attracts more tourists year by year, but also due to the high average expenditure of Chinese tourists. Nowadays, the international passenger flow among Chinese tourists is gradually recovering, which means injecting new vitality into the economy with a large proportion of tourism industry.

"Open your arms to welcome Chinese tourists"

Reuters recently cited data from the China Tourism Research Institute, stating that domestic tourism revenue in China is expected to reach about 4 trillion yuan in 2023, a year-on-year increase of about 95%, and recover to 71% of the 2019 level. It is expected that the number of inbound and outbound tourists will exceed 90 million in 2023, doubling year-on-year.

According to the website of The Wall Street Journal in the United States, China's continuous lifting of restrictions on outbound travel teams will boost the global tourism industry. According to the website "Foreign Exchange Street" in the United States, with China reopening its borders and relaxing epidemic prevention restrictions, it is expected that the global tourism industry will achieve a huge leap this year. The World Tourism Organization predicts that despite headwinds, the number of international tourists in 2023 may reach 80% -95% of pre pandemic levels.

According to data from the United Nations World Tourism Organization, in 2019, the total global tourist consumption was about 1 trillion US dollars, with Chinese tourists accounting for more than 1/4 of their overseas consumption, making a huge contribution to the tourism economy of various countries. After further opening up, the supply and demand sides of China's outbound team tourism market have accelerated their recovery. This year's National Day holiday may usher in a peak of outbound tourism, which will accelerate the economic recovery of countries and regions that rely on the tourism industry.

According to Singapore's Lianhe Zaobao, the growth of global tourism industry has exceeded the global overall economic performance every year in the past seven years, and the revenue generated in 2016 was up to $7.6 trillion. It is expected that in the next 10 years, nearly 1/4 of the global new employment opportunities will be related to the tourism industry, and the main driving force for growth will be the Chinese tourism industry.

According to a report on the website of the Spanish newspaper, tourism around the world is ready to welcome Chinese tourists with open arms. According to a research report by the French Foreign Trade Bank, if the intensity of China's tourism passenger flow returns to pre pandemic levels, the world will receive an additional $160 billion in annual revenue.

President Kamal of the Egyptian Arab Research Institute stated that China is an important source country for many countries, including Egypt, and the arrival of Chinese tourists will help increase the income of tourist destination countries. More importantly, the Chinese economy is showing a sustained positive trend, injecting strong impetus into the global economic recovery.

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