Text: Reporter Guo Yan.
This year, with the Spring Festival approaching, the inbound tourism market has also ushered in a recovery.
According to Ctrip data, as of mid-January 2024, the number of air ticket bookings for outbound travel during the 2024 Spring Festival increased by 460% year-on-year compared with the Spring Festival travel in 2023, and the number of air ticket bookings for inbound travel during the Spring Festival in 2024 increased by 819% year-on-year compared with the Spring Festival travel in 2023. "On the whole, inbound and outbound tourism during the Spring Festival in 2024 is characterized by high growth and high quality, especially the growth rate of inbound tourism exceeds expectations, reflecting the effective drive of favorable policies related to entry. A few days ago, Xie Xiaoqing, a senior researcher at Ctrip Research Institute, pointed out in an exclusive interview with this magazine.
A number of favorable policies to boost inbound tourism have been released.
From the end of 2023 to the beginning of the new year in 2024, various ministries and commissions have frequently introduced facilitation measures to promote the further development of the inbound tourism market.
In November 2023, China announced that China had decided to expand the scope of unilateral visa-free countries on a trial basis, and to implement a unilateral visa-free policy for ordinary passport holders from six countries: France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and Malaysia. From December 1, 2023 to November 30, 2024, holders of ordinary passports from the above-mentioned countries can enter China without a visa for business, tourism, family and friends and transit for no more than 15 days.
On the "China Travel Guide" special page for foreigners on the international version of Ctrip, the number of visits to these visa-free countries increased by more than 30% compared with the previous day. Tongcheng data shows that as of 18:00 on the day of the policy release, the search volume of inbound air tickets from Malaysia was 3 times that of the previous day, and the search volume of inbound air tickets from France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain exceeded 100% month-on-month**.
Mao Xu, director of the Department of Foreigner Management of the National Immigration Administration, said that from December 1, 2023 to January 9, 2024, a total of 1470,000 people, showing an overall upward trend, of which more than 4,300 people entered the country visa-free on January 8, an increase of more than 1 times compared with December 1, 2023, and sightseeing and leisure tourists accounted for 70%.
From January 11, 2024, the National Immigration Administration will officially implement five measures to facilitate foreign nationals to come to China, including: relaxing the conditions for foreign nationals to apply for port visas, 24-hour direct transit of foreign nationals at Beijing Capital Airport and other hub airports and ports without inspection procedures, foreign nationals in China can apply for visa extension and reissuance nearby, foreign nationals in China can apply for re-entry visas if they need to enter and exit multiple times, and simplify the application materials for visa documents for foreign nationals in China.
The introduction of a series of favorable policies is a major positive for the inbound tourism market. Ning Guoxin, Chief Administrative Officer of Zhongxin Tourism Group, said that on the one hand, the visa-free policy shows China's good intentions to actively open up and strengthen international exchanges, which will help promote China's friendly exchanges in the world; On the other hand, this injects a "booster" into practitioners, which can better stimulate the development of the inbound tourism market.
Dai Bin, president of the China Tourism Academy, said that this move has made it more convenient for foreigners to travel to China, further enhanced people's confidence in the inbound tourism market, and believes that the inbound tourism market will show a trend of opening high and accelerating in 2024. China Tourism Academy**, the recovery process of the inbound and outbound tourism market will be further accelerated in 2024, and the annual number of inbound and outbound tourists and international tourism revenue will exceed 26.4 billion passengers, $107 billion.
More and more tourists are looking for in-depth overseas travel.
2023 is the first year of the resumption of outbound travel, and the market is generally recovering steadily amid volatility.
After announcing the implementation of the five-month visa exemption in September 2023, Thailand has once again announced that it will implement a permanent visa-free entry policy for Chinese tourists from March 1, 2024. Tongcheng Travel data shows that within half an hour after the news was released, the search popularity of Thailand travel on the platform was 158% higher than that of the same period the day before**158%.
In addition, many foreign tourism bureaus have also carried out a variety of promotional activities. On November 14, 2023, Tourism Fiji held a roadshow promotion event with the theme of "Visa-free Travel to Fiji, Happy Warm Winter", and had in-depth exchanges with more than 400 travel agency partners from Greater China. From November 14th to 16th, Tourism New Zealand held the "2023 New Zealand Greater China Tourism Industry Fair" in Shanghai, where 44 New Zealand tourism sellers and 90 Chinese travel agencies engaged in New Zealand tourism had in-depth exchanges.
With the continuous recovery of overseas market ** chain and international passenger flights, the high air tickets and hotels** at the beginning of the year have also become more and more stable, coupled with the implementation of the mutual visa exemption policy between China and many countries, which has further promoted the rapid growth of the outbound travel market. Wang Xiaoxue, vice president of Mafengwo Tourism Research Institute, pointed out in an exclusive interview with this magazine.
"Newbie-friendly" Southeast Asian countries are still the first choice for outbound destinations, and niche destinations such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Kenya have also begun to attract more and more young tourists in the second half of 2013. In addition to basic information such as visas, transportation, and local route guides, security issues have become the most frequently consulted questions in the Mafengwo strategy group.
According to Ctrip, outbound travel by Chinese tourists in 2023 will increase by 550% compared to 2022. During the 2024 New Year's Day holiday, the number of outbound travel orders in the mainland increased nearly fourfold year-on-year, and the number of outbound air ticket bookings increased by 11% month-on-month and 265% year-on-year. Xie Xiaoqing pointed out that the recovery rate of outbound travel in 2023 increased from 10% in January to 58% in December, and the overall trend is positive, and Ctrip expects more good news in terms of visas and flight capacity in 2024.
In 2023, the way of tourism has changed, users are more inclined to small groups and in-depth travel, and their consumption habits have also shifted from 'spending money to sweep goods' to improving the quality of food, housing and transportation, and the proportion of personalized and differentiated outbound consumption demand is increasing. The rebound in outbound travel has also given rise to the popularity of overseas self-driving tours, and the number of international car rental orders at Ctrip's trip station has achieved a triple-digit growth for two consecutive years. Xie Xiaoqing said.
More and more tourists are looking for in-depth tours rather than simply sightseeing tours.
According to the "2023 Research Report on "New Ways to Play Global Travel" released by the Joint Laboratory of Free Travel Big Data jointly established by the China Tourism Academy and Mafengwo, world heritage, folk customs, magical architecture, festivals and other foreign play keywords have become among the keywords of young people's foreign play. In addition to immersing yourself in the strong cultural and artistic atmosphere, visiting world heritage sites, and viewing natural wonders, environmentally friendly ecotourism will also become one of the important trends of outbound tourism in 2024.
Wang Xiaoxue said: "The young generation, represented by the post-90s generation, is the main force to 're-embrace the world'. Quality, experience, and gameplay will greatly influence their choice of destinations, and in-depth local experience of authentic exotic customs, exploration of little-known historical sites, and pursuit of rare natural wonders will become an important demand for young travelers to travel abroad. ”
The hot search of cultural tourism in various places has brought a number of tourist destinations to the fire.
In 2023, from the Zibo barbecue at the beginning of the year to the national popularity, and then to the "Erbin" out of the circle in December, it has driven a whole year of tourism consumption boom.
In this regard, Xie Xiaoqing believes that the popularity of Harbin and many destinations across the country reflects the obvious effect of cultural tourism publicity in various places. On the other hand, it has also received an increase in traffic and search volume, the fans of various cultural and tourism bureaus have increased, and the search volume in various places has also increased significantly on the OTA platform.
In 2023, the tourism industry will see the light of day and usher in restorative growth. In the process of growth, the tourism industry has also shown new changes and trends. Xie Xiaoqing believes that the top IP is still + new stars are popular, and super IPs such as the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, Huangshan, Jiuzhaigou and traditional tourism cities such as Xi'an and Luoyang are still hot spots; At the same time, new stars are rising, and some relatively unpopular destinations and scenic spots suddenly become popular. Jiangmen pork knuckle noodles, Zibo barbecue, Xuchang Fat Donglai, Guizhou Village Chao, Tianjin uncle, and Beijing youth went to Shenyang for a weekend ......Internet hotspots have led to a number of tourist destinations.
Yuan Shuai, executive vice president of the China Academy of Urban Development and the Institute of Agricultural, Cultural and Tourism Industry Revitalization, believes that as consumers pursue more and more travel experience, the demand for high-quality tourism will further increase. The in-depth promotion of the rural revitalization strategy has made consumers have a strong interest in the tranquility, freshness and characteristic culture of the countryside, and rural tourism will continue to become a highlight of cultural tourism consumption.
For ordinary consumers, tourism consumption is also more rational, and they can save money, stay in the live broadcast room, stock up, compare prices more frequently, and so on. In response to this trend, businesses have also launched products such as hotel catering** and flight flying. Xie Xiaoqing pointed out. In addition, consumers are more daring to spend money, because they pay for experience and quality, and some tourists prefer distinctive and high-quality tourism products. Ctrip data shows that orders for business jets, charter flights, private groups and other orders have increased significantly, as well as high-end projects such as tens of thousands of yuan for Antarctic tours.
Du Shanchuan, a global travel expert, said that short-** Internet celebrity check-in places will become a new highlight of cultural tourism consumption, driving tourists to go to Internet celebrity locations to check in. At the same time, with the help of big data and artificial intelligence technology, cultural tourism enterprises can provide personalized services to consumers. All localities can make full use of local historical, cultural, folk and other resources to launch a variety of cultural and tourism integration projects to meet the diverse needs of tourists.
However, Xie Xiaoqing also pointed out: "In 2023, the hotter the tourism market, the more we need to think calmly. The outbreak of tourism demand, testing hotels, B&Bs, scenic spots, airlines and other tourism service capabilities of the whole link of tourism, tourism industry changes, service complaints and other events, but also need to be solved by practitioners for a long time. Some businesses are also facing the situation of increasing income but not increasing profits, and the high-quality development of the tourism industry is imminent. She said that in 2024, the tourism industry will return to normalcy and open a new round of endogenous growth relying on product innovation and service innovation, which will test the core competitiveness of tourism enterprises.