Trip.com Group today showcased its vision for the future of travel at its Envision 2023 global partner conference. The conference was attended by about 700 industry partners globally.
25.08.2023 - 13:03 / skift.com / Steve Saxon
China has lifted pandemic-era restrictions on group tours for more countries, including key markets such as the United States, Japan, South Korea and Australia in a potential boon for their tourism industries.
The decision was announced by China’s culture and tourism ministry on Thursday, effective immediately.
Prior to the pandemic, mainland Chinese tourists spent more than any other country’s tourists when abroad, clocking up a combined $255 billion in 2019 with group tours estimated to account for roughly 60% of that.
Their absence since the pandemic has led to financial troubles for many tourism-dependent businesses around the globe.
Germany and Britain were also among the countries for which restrictions were lifted but Canada, which has had especially politically fraught relations with China of late, was not reinstated.
It was China’s third list of countries to receive approvals. The first batch approved in January included 20 countries such as Thailand, Russia, Cuba and Argentina. The second batch in March included 40 countries, among them Nepal, France, Portugal and Brazil.
China has never explained its staggered approach to approvals but analysts have noted that the countries taking time to gain approval have had more political and/or trade tension with the world’s second-largest economy.
The move was welcomed by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida as well as tourism ministers in South Korea and Australia, who said it would boost their economies.
“This is another positive step towards the stabilisation of our relationship with China,” said Australian Trade and Tourism Minister Don Farrell.
Just how much outbound Chinese tourism will bounce back for the latest group of countries remains to be seen. Expectations that demand would come roaring back after borders were re-opened have to date been largely unfulfilled.
International flights in and out of China have recovered to only 53% of 2019 levels as of July.
That is in large part due to staffing issues for many global airlines that have limited the flying of more routes, slow visa issuance for Chinese travellers amid backlogs in many Western countries as well as a sputtering domestic economy that is discouraging many holidaying Chinese from spending big.
In response to the news, some Chinese said online that they were less than enthusiastic about international trips.
“I don’t want to go; I feel domestic travel is pretty good, such as the beautiful scenery in Xinjiang and the Northeast and the food is cheap,” said one Weibo user with the handle @Chongshengshilangbushilang.
But others were more upbeat.
“Despite a cooling overall economy, 40% of (Chinese) people say they will spend more on travel,” said Steve Saxon, a partner at McKinsey & Co.
Trip.com Group today showcased its vision for the future of travel at its Envision 2023 global partner conference. The conference was attended by about 700 industry partners globally.
An Air China plane cabin was filled with smoke after its engine caught fire, forcing the plane to make an emergency landing in Singapore on Sunday.
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China’s Trip.com Group has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Saudi Tourism Authority to promote Saudi Arabia as a tourism destination. As part of the collaboration, Trip.com and Saudi Tourism Authority will launch joint marketing campaigns in several markets to drive awareness and attract tourists to Saudi Arabia through Trip.com, Ctrip, Travix, and other travel companies. These markets include Australia, China, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and UK. In addition, both parties will also embark on several capacity-building and knowledge-sharing initiatives in various aspects, including digital payment solutions, sustainability, ticketing, and training. “With Trip.com Group’s market capability and advanced technology, I believe the partnership will encourage and entice more visitors worldwide to Saudi Arabia and further enhance recovery in the global tourism sector,” said Fahd Hamidaddin, CEO of the Saudi Tourism Authority. In November last year, Trip.com Group signed an agreement to promote Qatar across the globe as a family-friendly tourism destination, and an agreement with Abu Dhabi was signed in May 2022. Speaking at the Skift Global Forum East, Trip.com’s Chief Operating Officer, Schubert Lou, said old marketing strategies would not work on the new Chinese traveler. Saudi Arabia had earlier said that it aims to attract 3.9 million visitors from China annually by 2030. In 2019, when Saudi Arabia opened to tourism, the maximum number of tourist visas issued were to Chinese tourists. More than 100,000 Chinese tourists visited Saudi Arabia in 2019.