Reporter Yan Liting
Spurred by the relaxation of epidemic prevention and control policies, the online tourism market has ushered in a new wave of recovery.
On the evening of December 26, the National Health and Medical Commission issued a notice on the overall implementation of the "Category B and B Control" plan for new coronavirus infections, announcing that starting from January 8, 2023, the nucleic acid and centralized isolation policy for all personnel entering China will be cancelled. Personnel entering China will be able to enter China normally after taking a 48-hour nucleic acid test and making a health declaration. This means that the entry quarantine and civil aviation "Five Ones" policies that have been implemented for nearly three years will be cancelled.
Affected by this, there is a surge in overseas travel during the Spring Festival. Within half an hour of the above release, the search volume of popular overseas destinations on Ctrip platform increased 10 times compared with the same period last year. Searches for outbound (including Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan) air tickets and overseas hotels both reached the peak in three years. Search popularity for many popular outbound destinations before the epidemic, such as Japan, Thailand, and South Korea, has increased significantly. Among them, the search volume related to outbound and group tour products during the Spring Festival soared six times.
It is worth noting that although the total volume of domestic outbound tourism has been sluggish since the epidemic, the per capita consumption of outbound tourists has increased instead of falling. Ctrip data shows that in the past six months, the per capita spending on outbound air tickets and high-star hotels in the Mainland has increased by 64% and 40% respectively compared with before the epidemic. In this regard, Fang Zeqian, an industry analyst at Ctrip Research Institute, believes that because there are still short-term constraints on the recovery of supply-side facilities and manpower, it will still take some time for prices to fall.
From a local perspective, per capita spending on high-star hotels in Asian countries has declined. Ctrip data shows that in the past six months, five-star hotel prices in Thailand, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, and other countries have dropped by 20% to 30% compared with pre-epidemic prices. For example, the per capita expenditure of five-star hotels in Thailand and Vietnam has dropped by about 20% compared with the same period in 2019; the price of five-star hotels in Malaysia has dropped by 30%; in Japan and South Korea, it has dropped by about 20%.
"Tourists from Mainland China contribute a lot to international travel in Asia. Currently, the number of international tourists from Mainland China has recovered less than 5%. The absence of Chinese tourists has made it difficult for Asian tourism prices to rise to some extent." Fang Zeqian said that with the gradual liberalization of outbound travel, favorable policies and price discounts, I believe these areas will be the first to attract the attention of Chinese tourists, and Ctrip's outbound travel recovery layout will also start from these places.
However, there are still certain restrictions on visas. Ctrip pointed out that current passports that are newly issued or expired are still mainly processed for business, study abroad, family visits and other needs; most overseas countries have opened visa processing, but due to the epidemic, the shortage of staff in many consulates has led to delays in visa processing.
Even so, the enthusiasm for outbound travel is still hard to suppress. According to Ctrip visa data, since December 7, the number of overseas visa applications has increased more than 12 times year-on-year. Countries such as Singapore, Japan, South Korea, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia are more popular.
"The release of the new regulations ensures a smoother cross-border travel environment from the policy level and will effectively mobilize tourists' willingness to travel." Fang Zeqian said that Ctrip is also very much looking forward to the further implementation of outbound tourism policies. "The ice and snow will eventually melt, and the spring of outbound travel has arrived."
