Despite the impact of objective factors such as insufficient flight capacity, shortage of destination resources, and visa difficulties, the outbound travel market will continue to recover in 2023. Jia Jianqiang, founder and CEO of 6-person customized travel, said on January 11 that the number of trips on the platform in 2023 has exceeded that of 2019, and domestic customized tours have grown rapidly.
From 2020 to 2022, it is the first period of iteration and service upgrading of the domestic tourism industry, and 2023 is the period of explosive tourism consumption. Domestic customized tours have grown rapidly and have become an important business segment since 2019, accounting for 30% of the company's overall operating revenue in 2023.
The top 10 destinations are Yunnan, Guizhou, Inner Mongolia, Qinghai, Gansu, Xinjiang, Northeast China, Sichuan, Guangxi and Jiangxi. Throughout the year, flower appreciation, summer retreat, grassland, warm winter, and ice and snow tours are the most popular theme tours.
In 2023, 13 countries, including Russia, Albania, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Thailand, Malaysia, Maldives, Kiribati, Angola, Benin, Gabon, Mozambique, and Tunisia, will open visa-free policies to Chinese tourists. From the perspective of market feedback, the effect of the visa-free policy is obvious, and the 5 Central Asian countries, the 3 Caucasus countries, Serbia + Bosnia and Herzegovina + Montenegro + Albania, and Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand and other 4 regions will perform well in the outbound travel market in 2023 due to the blessing of the visa-free policy, and the growth rate is higher than the market average.
On the whole, the outbound customization section of the platform has recovered to 70% of 2019. In 2024, the difficulty of making an appointment for a Schengen visa has been greatly alleviated, Kenya will also be visa-free for China from January 1, 2024, and the recovery of international routes is also accelerating.
In recent years, tourists' travel patterns have also changed, paying more attention to travel experience, or choosing leisure vacations, or gaining an in-depth understanding of the culture and cultural customs of the destination, and the consumption mode has gradually shifted to quality travel. The average length of stay on outbound routes on the platform also increased from 7 in 20195 days to 10 in 20236 days, an increase of 41%, and even many tourists began to inquire about itineraries of more than 30 days, hoping to explore more types of scenery and experiences in a single trip.
At the end of 2023, China has successively issued several blockbuster inbound travel facilitation policies, including "trial unilateral visa exemption for six countries including Germany and France" and "phased reduction and exemption of visa fees for China", demonstrating China's determination and confidence to further promote the recovery of inbound tourism. Jia Jianqiang introduced that the platform will accelerate the layout of inbound tourism, and launch "nihao China!" in 2024! Overseas Tour of China's Outstanding Tourism Cities" to enhance the international influence of China's tourism cities and demonstrate China's positive attitude towards the international tourism market.
Jia Jianqiang**, the tourism market will be in a relatively stable and continuous recovery period in 2024. Niche destinations such as Antarctica, South America, and Africa, which have already shown strong recovery momentum in 2023, will attract more outbound tourists in 2024. In addition, strong demand for business and educational travel will also support the continued recovery of the tourism market in 2024.
Visual China.