China outbound tips

Good morning from Skift. It’s Wednesday, May 1. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.

China, the world’s largest outbound tourism market prior to the pandemic, is expected to continue making substantial progress in its recovery this year.

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Outbound travel from China to the Middle East reached pre-pandemic levels during the Chinese New Year period, according to data firm ForwardKeys.

Yuwei Zhangzou represents a new type of Chinese tourist.

Good morning from Skift. It’s Wednesday, February 7. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.

Good morning from Skift. It’s Thursday, January 18. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.

China is addressing the bottlenecks that have restricted outbound travel from the country. But the enthusiasm among Chinese travelers to visit the U.S. is diminishing, according to the latest survey from China Trading Desk, a marketing technology company.

On January 8, 2023, China reopened its borders for travel, ending a three-year closure during the Covid pandemic. Most analysts predicted a surge in travel. It didn’t happen. And one year later, the world is still waiting. 

It’s one of the biggest questions in global tourism: What the hell is happening to tourism from China? It’s a question a lot of us tried to answer throughout 2023 after China reopened – on January 8 – after 3 years of lockdown.

The outbound travel recovery in China is stuck at just over half of 2019 levels, but there’s at least one promising sign of future demand: Domestic tourism is 90% above 2019 levels.

Good morning from Skift. It’s Thursday, December 14. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.

The head of China’s civil aviation regulator, Song Zhiyong, met with the U.S. Ambassador in Beijing Nicholas Burns, and exchanged views on pushing for a substantial increase in flights between the two countries, the regulator said on Wednesday.

In a significant rebound fueled by heightened summer travel demand, China’s Trip.com Group posted a net revenue of RMB 13.7 billion ($1.9 billion) in the third quarter, marking a 99% increase over 2022 and 31% increase from 2019 levels.

Australia has recommenced visa processing for Chinese group travel, Australia’s Ministry of Trade and Tourism announced on Monday.

In just the past few days, there have been two key moves that ease restrictions for travel from China to the U.S. Tourism officials have been clear that the lifting of these restrictions is critical to a full recovery –though key hurdles remain. On Thursday, China lifted pandemic-era group tour restrictions for the U.S. and other key markets. Before the lift, Chinese travel agencies were banned from selling outbound group or package travel to the U.S.

Southeast Asia’s tourist economies are set to be leading beneficiaries of China‘s scrapping of travel bans as they have steered clear of the COVID-19 tests before entry that Europe, Japan and the United States have imposed on Chinese visitors.

More than half of Chinese say they will put off travel abroad, for periods from several months to more than a year, even if borders reopened tomorrow, a study showed on Tuesday, a sign that consumer recovery from Covid-19 measures will take time.

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.

Good morning from Skift. It’s Thursday, January 5, and here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.

South Korean and Japanese shop owners, Thai tour bus operators and K-pop groups are among those celebrating China’s border reopening as businesses around Asia rekindle ties with the region’s largest economy.