On February 7, Chinese tourists arrived at the Ferrari World theme park in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Wang Dongzhen
On February 8, tourists in a tour group going to Bali, Indonesia took pictures at Terminal T4 of Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport in Zhejiang. Photo by Long Wei (People’s Photo)
A few days ago, the first group of Chinese tourists who went to Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and other pilot countries returned home one after another. In these countries, Chinese tourists are warmly welcomed. Before the outbreak, China was the world‘s largest source of outbound tourists. In 2019, the number of Chinese citizens traveling abroad reached 155 million. The return of Chinese tourists to the international tourism market is of self-evident significance to boosting the development of the global tourism industry and stimulating economic recovery.
Enthusiasm for traveling
On the morning of February 13, citizen Cao Xinlian went to a Ctrip store near the North Second Ring Road in Beijing for consultation, planning to take her parents to participate in an outbound tour group. “Departure at the end of February, Southeast Asian countries, direct flights from Beijing, within a week, the itinerary should not be too tight.” According to Cao Xinlian’s request, Mr. Zhang, the on-site staff, recommended several options for her.
Recently, the number of tourists visiting the store for consultation and group reporting has been increasing. According to Mr. Zhang, on January 20, after the news that the national travel agencies and online travel companies were reinstated as a pilot to operate Chinese citizens’ outbound group tours and “air ticket + hotel” business in relevant countries was released, his phone calls and messages have been constant, mostly for consultation. Outbound travel routes and products. “It seems that soon we will enter the working state of ‘continuous rotation’.” Mr. Zhang said with a smile.
Tourists are enthusiastic about outbound travel, and tourism companies have launched outbound travel-related products. The reporter learned from CYTS Aoyou.com that in order to welcome the restart of outbound tourism, CYTS Aoyou.com has made arrangements in advance in terms of talents, resources, products, channels, and services. Currently, it has launched more than 500 outbound travel products, including 27 first-time group products, involving 20 countries.
On the online travel service platform Fliggy, many travel agencies operating outbound travel business have become active. According to the relevant person in charge of Fliggy, the platform has launched nearly a thousand outbound itinerary tour products and over 10,000 local play products. Starting from February 6, consumers have set off for popular destinations such as Thailand and the Maldives. Fliggy’s data shows that some independent travel consumers choose to join a local tour group after leaving the country, and buy one-day itinerary tours, scenic spot tickets and other entertainment products during the itinerary. Chinese tourists returning to the international tourism market have driven the explosive growth of localized services and entertainment projects in overseas destinations.
Looking forward to more Chinese tourists
At around 8:00 a.m. local time on February 6, at Don Mueang International Airport in Bangkok, Thailand, Yuthasak, director of the National Tourism Administration of Thailand, welcomed the arriving Chinese tourists and said: “The return of Chinese tourists is crucial to Thailand’s economic recovery. The Tourism Authority of Thailand It is expected to welcome more than 7 million Chinese tourists this year.”
On February 7, an Air China flight carrying 125 passengers arrived at Phnom Penh International Airport in Cambodia. Cambodian Minister of Tourism Tong Kun and Chinese Ambassador to Cambodia Wang Wentian presented traditional Cambodian water cloths and garlands to Chinese tourists one by one. Tong Kun said at the welcoming ceremony that China’s resumption of outbound tourism is very beneficial to Cambodia and the world economy. This year, Cambodia will strive to attract 800,000 to 1 million Chinese tourists.
Recently, some popular destinations for outbound tourism have warmly welcomed Chinese tourists in various ways. The news frequently appeared in the media. Many countries have also attracted more Chinese tourists by setting up Chinese-language tourism service departments, increasing the number of Chinese-speaking tour guides, and stationing Chinese-speaking staff at international airports. “During the period when the ‘pause button’ was pressed for outbound tourism, South Africa has added many new facilities, new hotels, and new experiences.” Mansur Mohamed, chief representative of the Asia-Pacific region of the South African Tourism Bureau, told this reporter, South African Tourism Bureau and South African tourism practitioners We have been making active preparations for the arrival of Chinese tourists, and South Africa’s visa centers in various parts of China have resumed visa processing one after another. In the near future, the South African Tourism Bureau will also hold industry sharing activities and seminars on South African tourism products in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and other places.
A few days ago, the 2023 ASEAN Tourism Forum, which focused on promoting the recovery of the tourism industry after the epidemic, came to an end in Indonesia. Representatives of ASEAN countries are eagerly looking forward to the return of Chinese tourists. Indonesian Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy Sandiaga Uno said that the tourism industry is extremely resilient, especially after China restarts outbound tourism, ASEAN tourism will recover strongly. Philippine Tourism Secretary Cristina Flasco said the return of Chinese tourists has given the Philippine tourism industry a “booster”. He Wenchao, deputy director of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, said that Vietnam is willing to strengthen cooperation with China to improve the quality of tourism services.
A “new menu” for visitors
On February 13th, the members of CYTS Aoyou.com’s Thailand launch group finished their 6-day “Enjoy Mamba” trip and returned to Beijing. Going to the food street to taste Thai delicacies, strolling on the beach at Jinsha Island, and experiencing folk culture immersively at Nong Nooch Park… These 16 tourists together felt the joy of “organizing a group” to see the world.
The 24 tourists who departed from Shanghai became members of the Spring and Autumn Tourism Group in Thailand. They experienced island leisure travel in Phuket, Thailand for 6 days and 5 nights. Zhou Weihong, a member of the starting group and deputy general manager of Spring and Autumn Tourism, found that compared with the past, Phuket Island has new attractions. For example, there is a special experience in this itinerary-in-depth “reading” of Phuket Internet celebrity Romani Street. This 150-meter-long street is lined with distinctive “Sino-Portuguese” architectural style row houses. Most of these buildings have attractive stories behind them. Now it is a popular location for young people to take wedding photos.
After 3 years, Chinese tourists have more new expectations for outbound travel. The relevant person in charge of the Tongcheng Research Institute said that after the epidemic, tourists prefer products with more privacy such as small groups and private groups, which is also a reflection of the upgrading of domestic tourists’ tourism consumption. In order to adapt to this change, tourism companies have adjusted their product lines in a timely manner to provide tourists with a “new menu”. For example, Tongcheng has launched more private group products, which require a minimum of 2 people and are received by local tour guides, which not only meets people’s needs for privacy and security, but also provides tourists with a travel experience closer to the destination culture . On the Qunar platform, the in-depth experience free travel project has become a popular search. The relevant person in charge of Fliggy said that it will launch a series of support measures to help merchants with qualifications for outbound and group tours to settle on the platform to restart operations, and will provide 44 free training courses for merchants concerned about the shortage of talents and the gap in online operation knowledge Courses, including store opening settings, basic operations, product launches, etc., allow these businesses to better provide outbound travel services for tourists.