The three-day TGTM 2023 is set as a centre stage for Thai golf businesses to network and discuss business opportunities with overseas golf-holiday specialists.
25.08.2023 - 14:39 / skift.com
Searches on Chinese travel sites surged and social media platforms were flooded with delight and relief on Wednesday as the public cheered the biggest loosening of some of the world’s strictest Covid policies.
Travel platforms from Trip.com to Qunar said searches for air tickets to cities such as the tourist spots of Sanya and Harbin jumped as much as seven times after news of the looser rules was announced, with many people looking to travel around the Lunar New Year holiday in January.
China’s relaxation of its rules includes allowing infected people with mild or no symptoms to quarantine at home and dropping testing for people travelling domestically, marking an apparent end to the hugely unpopular zero-Covid strategy.
The policy has kept the number of infections in China extremely low by global standards but also choked its economy and had a devastating impact on the lives of many people.
Frustration with the rules boiled over into widespread protests late last month.
Wednesday’s announcement quickly soared to the most viewed topic on China’s Weibo platform, with many people “finally” embracing a return to normal.
“The epidemic fight has gone on for three years, this is a history-making day,” one Weibo-user said comment.
Dozens of people also flocked to the Weibo account of Li Wenliang, a doctor in the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the virus first emerged, who died in 2020 after sounding an early alarm about Covid-19 and whose last post has been an online haven for those looking to vent about personal woes and public policies.
“Doctor, we’ve made it through, we’re going to be free,” wrote one user. “Daylight is here,” wrote another.
The news was also welcomed by foreign business groups, many of which had become increasingly outspoken about the damage the zero-Covid policy was having on China’s economy and the operations of their companies.
“Timely implementation will help stabilise China’s economy and get life back to normal,” the European Chamber of Commerce in China said of the 10 measures announced on Wednesday.
It urged that a clearly defined roadmap be provided to businesses and local governments.
It also urged China to roll out mRNA vaccines for domestic use as part of a vaccination drive with the elderly a priority.
The American Chamber of Commerce in China said it viewed any policy that pointed to opening up as positive, adding that the business environment needed to return to a level of predictability so companies could resume normal operations.
“Today’s measures focused on the domestic environment; however, we would also like to see further relaxation of inbound travel restrictions, continuing the progress that has been made on that front earlier this year,” Colm Rafferty, chairman of
The three-day TGTM 2023 is set as a centre stage for Thai golf businesses to network and discuss business opportunities with overseas golf-holiday specialists.
China dropped mandatory COVID-19 testing for incoming travelers on Wednesday, becoming one of the last countries in the world to do so.
China’s three largest airlines remained in the red in the second quarter, although losses narrowed significantly from the previous three months as a recovery in the domestic aviation market gathered pace.
China will persevere with its “dynamic-clearing” approach to Covid-19 cases as soon as they emerge, health officials said on Saturday, adding that measures must be implemented more precisely and meet the needs of vulnerable people.
Beijing shut parks, malls and museums on Tuesday while more Chinese cities resumed mass testing for Covid-19 as authorities struggle with a spike in cases that has deepened concern about the economy and dimmed hopes for a quick reopening.
The number of foreign visitors to Japan rose to nearly 500,000 in October, the first month it fully reopened to overseas visitors after more than two years of COVID restrictions, more than doubling the volume from September.
Chinese people, cut off from the rest of the world for three years by stringent COVID-19 curbs, flocked to travel sites on Tuesday ahead of borders reopening next month, even as rising infections strained the health system and roiled the economy.
Even though China’s recent relaxation of Covid measures is widely seen as a step forward for travel, Trip.com is still cautious in the very near term as winter is usually a slack season for both business and leisure travel.
Visitor arrivals to Japan jumped to nearly 1 million in November, the first full month after the country scrapped Covid-19 curbs that effectively halted tourism for more than two years, data showed on Wednesday.
Travel website KAYAK, owned by Booking Holdings Inc, said domestic searches for hotels within China surged last week, after the country loosened its COVID-19-related restrictions.
Travelers are hungry for high-end experiences, and there appears to be no sign of the luxury bubble bursting anytime soon, with China still expected to add weight to the post-pandemic revenge travel surge.
Online travel agency Trip.com Group hopes that cross-border travel capacity for China will be back to normal by the third quarter of this year.