On February 3, San Francisco, USA, a group of children performed drumming at the Chinese New Year Flower Market in San Francisco, USA. At the annual Chinese New Year Flower Market in San Francisco's Chinatown, residents and tourists can not only buy a variety of festive goods, but also enjoy Chinese folk performances such as dragon and lion dances. Courtesy of Visual China.
On February 4, according to the National Immigration Administration of China**, this year's Spring Festival holiday will usher in a new round of peak passenger flow at ports across the country, with an average daily number of customs clearances of 1.8 million, an increase of about 33 times, which is comparable to the inbound and outbound traffic of the Spring Festival in 2019. TTG Asia, a well-known travel magazine, writes that tourists from China are surging. To welcome Chinese tourists, Chinese tourists are returning to the global travel market with vibrant events arranged in major Asian tourist destinations starting with the Chinese New Year holiday on February 10.
Chinese tourists return to the global market.
For Ms. Fan, who works in immigration services, this year's Spring Festival is a busy year for her for a long time. After three years of silence, she feels that the customers she once lost are returning, and "basically every day the customer list is full".
On February 1, the "China Outbound Tourism Development Report (2023-2024)" released by the China Tourism Academy showed that the scale of China's outbound tourism market is expected to reach 1300 million people, recovered to about 80% of 2019.
During this year's Spring Festival, data from a number of online travel platforms also showed that the number of bookings for outbound business increased significantly, and the number of searches for overseas tourist destinations reached a peak in the past four years. Ctrip's international version of TripAccording to data from com, as of mid-January this year, the number of Chinese outbound travel bookings during the Spring Festival holiday has exceeded 10 times that of 2023. According to travel platform Fliggy, bookings on its platform have increased by more than 15 times compared to last year. According to Tongcheng Travel data, the number of searches for outbound travel tickets and group tour product inquiries during the Spring Festival in 2024 will exceed the level of the same period in 2019. The "2024 Chinese Residents' Outbound Travel Demand Trend Outlook" report released by the platform pointed out that there are 639% of the respondents clearly stated that they have plans to travel abroad, of which more than 40% plan to complete more than two outbound trips in 2024, and about 31% plan to travel on statutory holidays such as New Year's Day and Spring Festival6%。
In addition, international flights are also continuing to recover steadily. According to data from the Civil Aviation Administration of China, by the end of 2023, China's international scheduled passenger flights have recovered to 4,782 flights per week, about 62 before the new crown epidemic8%, airlines proposed to add more than 2,500 new international scheduled flights and overtime charter flights during the Spring Festival travel period.
With the resumption of routes, the radius of destination selection for tourists is also expanding. Fliggy's data shows that compared with last year, the popular destinations for outbound travel are expanding from a "4-hour flight circle" to a "12-hour flight circle". In addition to popular Asian tourist destinations such as Japan, Thailand and Singapore, a number of new outbound travel destinations such as Northern Europe, Egypt and Morocco are also rising rapidly.
Ms. Fan told the reporter of China Youth Daily and China Youth Network that the number of customers going to Europe and Australia has increased significantly this year. At the same time, with the recovery of the global economy, outbound travel for the purpose of foreign trade and business is also increasing significantly, "many of our current customers are planning to go to Europe to participate in business exhibitions."
The return of Chinese tourists to the global tourism market has also aroused great concern from various countries. The Korea Times reported that data shows that Chinese tourists to South Korea have more than doubled their spending on accommodation compared to 2019, while spending on air travel, tours and experiences has also increased. Thailand's Minister of Tourism and Sports, Sudawan, said that from January 1 to January 28, 2024, the number of international tourists to Thailand reached 2.74 million, of which China ranked first for the first time in a long time, surpassing Malaysia.
Singapore's Straits Times published an article on January 22 titled "Singapore is expected to benefit from the increase in the number of Chinese tourists visiting overseas in 2024", arguing that the overseas tourism market of Chinese tourists will continue to recover this year. China was once Singapore's largest country of tourists, and Singapore will also benefit from the recovery of China's tourism industry. While the number of Chinese tourists is still not back to pre-Covid levels, the Singapore Tourism Board is optimistic that it is only a matter of time. "China will continue to make a very important contribution to the global tourism industry. Melissa Ou, CEO of the Singapore Tourism Board, said.
The "visa-free era" is good for continuous release.
China's visa-free 'circle of friends' continues to expand, and more and more countries have officially entered the 'visa-free era', and its positive effects are constantly emerging. On January 31, China's spokesman Wang Wenbin introduced that up to now, China has concluded mutual visa exemption agreements covering different passports with 157 countries, reached agreements or arrangements with 44 countries to simplify visa procedures, and achieved full visa exemption with 23 countries, including Thailand, Singapore, Maldives and the United Arab Emirates. In addition, more than 60 countries and regions have granted visa-free or visa-on-arrival convenience to Chinese citizens.
In the past year, China has continued to optimize its visa policy and promote people-to-people exchanges between China and foreign countries, which has not only promoted high-level opening-up, but also brought more opportunities for deepening friendly exchanges and mutually beneficial cooperation between China and foreign countries.
On January 25, China and Singapore signed a visa-free agreement in Beijing, deciding that from February 9, 2024, holders of ordinary passports from both sides can enter the country visa-free for a single stay of no more than 30 days. An hour after the announcement, searches for air tickets to Singapore and hotels on Fliggy's platform increased by more than 15 times month-on-month, and hotel searches increased by more than 6 times month-on-month.
On January 28, representatives of China and Thailand signed a visa-free agreement in Bangkok, Thailand. On the same day, the search popularity of Thailand-related keywords on Ctrip's platform increased by more than 7 times compared with the previous day, of which air tickets and hotels increased by more than 6 times month-on-month, and the travel orders of Chinese tourists to Thailand increased by more than 13 times year-on-year.
In addition, China's five measures to facilitate foreign personnel to come to China were also officially implemented on January 11 this year, promoting the continuous upgrading of measures to facilitate the exchange of people between China and foreign countries. According to the "2024 Spring Festival Travel Market** Report" released by Ctrip, inbound travel orders during the Spring Festival increased by more than 10 times year-on-year, and the main source countries are Japan, the United States, South Korea, Malaysia, etc.
According to the "China Inbound Tourism Development Report (2023-2024)" recently released by the China Tourism Academy, China's inbound tourists will recover to six or seven percent of 2019 in 2023, and the total number of Chinese residents and foreigners from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan in the fourth quarter has recovered to 86% of the same period in 2019. According to preliminary estimates, China's foreign inbound market is expected to recover to 50% of 2019 levels in 2024, and the inbound market for Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan residents will fully recover.
Many countries are "scrambling" for Chinese tourists.
In order to welcome the return of Chinese tourists, many countries have seized the business opportunities of the Chinese New Year holiday and launched a series of targeted and favorable measures, in order to activate the vitality of their domestic tourism markets with the help of Chinese tourists.
On February 1, Thailand's Minister of Tourism and Sports, Sudawan, announced on her personal social platform: "It's a success. Sales of more than 100 million baht (about 20.18 million yuan) in one day, more than 20 million people** live broadcast event to provide Thai travel discounts to Chinese tourists! ”
A day ago, Suda Wangang and the head of the National Tourism Administration of Thailand, Tapeni Zespeiben, held the first live broadcast of Thailand tourism in 2024 for Chinese tourists. During the live broadcast, Su Dawan said that a grand event will be held in Bangkok's Chinatown this year to celebrate the Chinese New Year and the 49th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Thailand, and provide Chinese tourists with preferential activities such as air tickets and hotels.
Recently, with the support of China**, ASEAN launched Southeast Asia Tourism Chinese**, which is an initiative of the ASEAN Connectivity Master Plan 2025, according to Malaysia's National News Agency. The platform aims to attract Chinese tourists and help them plan their trips effectively, thereby boosting tourism, stimulating economic growth and promoting mutual understanding between ASEAN and China.
Malaysian Tourism Board Director Ammar Abd Ghapar said the Malaysian Tourism Board is actively developing strategies to achieve the goal of more than 5 million Chinese tourists by 2024, Malaysian News Agency also reported on February 1. He said the strategy includes increasing the frequency of flights between Malaysia and China and encouraging more Chinese airlines to consider Malaysia as a preferred destination.
The chairman of the Malaysian Inbound Tourism Association, Uzaidi Udanis, said that they are working closely with the Malaysian Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture to actively monitor the entry of Chinese tourists and further enrich the Mandarin guide service.
In addition, the recent "Swiss Bidding Competition" has also aroused heated discussions among Chinese netizens. Martin Nidgger, director of the Swiss National Tourism Administration, recently expressed his amazement at the popularity of winter tourism in Harbin, China, in an interview with China ** in Davos, and "shouted" in Chinese to welcome Chinese tourists to Switzerland for sightseeing. Behind Niedger's "shouting" is the importance of Chinese tourists to the Swiss tourism industry. In his view, the growing spending power and demand of Chinese tourists have injected strong impetus into the global tourism market.
China Youth Daily, China Youth Network Intern Reporter Pei Sitong Reporter Chen Xiaoru **China Youth Daily.