(Zhang Guangwen/Interview report) The reporter learned from many travel agencies that the number of air ticket bookings during the May Day holiday has recently shown an obvious upward trend, and among the outbound destinations, Hong Kong and Macau tourism is still popular. The current stage is a bonus period for the market recovery after the epidemic, and tourism operators need to actively seize the enthusiastic outbound travel demand of Chinese tourists.
Zhao Nan, Development Director of Air Travel IndustrySaid that tourism demand is superimposed on the long-standing backlog of business and family visits, and the number of inbound and outbound tourists is showing explosive growth. As more passengers complete passport renewal procedures, the number of Chinese outbound tourists is expected to usher in multiple “small peaks”. In February this year, the passenger volume of Chinese airlines on international routes exceeded 830,000, an increase of nearly five times (505%) year-on-year. The May Day holiday air ticket bookings recently showed a clear upward trend. This week, Chinese airlines’ domestic flight ticket bookings for the May Day holiday increased by nearly 90% month-on-month, slightly higher than the international flight ticket bookings for the May Day holiday (a month-on-month increase of nearly 84%). At present, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, Xiamen and Chengdu are the top five cities with the largest number of Chinese outbound tourists. The top ten flight bookings for outbound destinations during the May Day holiday are: Macau of China, Los Angeles of the United States, Hong Kong of China, Sydney of Australia, Bangkok of Thailand, Frankfurt of Germany, Singapore, Melbourne of Australia, London of the United Kingdom, and Auckland of New Zealand.
There is still more than a month before the “May 1st” small long holiday. As the first small long holiday after the Spring Festival, many tourists have already begun to plan long-distance travel. Ctrip platform data shows that the first outbound travel booking peak after the year has arrived. As of February 21, domestic outbound air ticket orders increased by 30% from last week. The top ten cities of popular outbound destinations are: Bangkok, Thailand, Hong Kong, China, and Macau, China. , Singapore, Chinese Taipei, London, UK, Tokyo, Japan, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Manila, Philippines, Bali, Indonesia. The pre-sales of international cruise products are outstanding, such as the Mediterranean 121-day round-the-world route in January 2024, the North-South polar route in Q3 2023, and the Caribbean, Europe, Singapore and other routes.
Zhang Nan, Vice President of Comfort TourismI believe that the first routes to be launched must be those that Chinese tourists are more familiar with and are more popular. Secondly, we must make some different product designs for different consumer groups. He emphasized that Chinese tourists have not traveled abroad for three years, and they are still at a stage of high enthusiasm, especially the high-end market has started relatively quickly. From the perspective of the normal resource operation of travel agencies, the three-year epidemic has caused resources to be overthrown and restarted. Tourism companies need to “occupy pits” as soon as possible to lay the foundation for future development. same,Qin Yongqing, founder of Lepai.comHe said that the first batch of companies to resume business will usher in better returns. Now is the bonus period for market recovery after the epidemic, and we must seize the opportunity. The core of the rapid recovery of outbound tourism lies in tourists’ willingness to travel, whether the market can provide diversified and cost-effective products, and whether China’s large economic environment can continue to improve and consumption power continues to increase. At present, the purpose of going abroad shows diversified and customized needs. In the short term, it mainly focuses on long-term outbound needs such as business visits, visiting relatives abroad, and studying abroad. There is also a new demand for overseas health care.
Many countries relax entry restrictions from China, and the recovery of air transport capacity helps the market recover
The good news is that recently, many countries have relaxed the previous entry restrictions on tourists from China, such as Italy, France, Sweden, Switzerland and so on. Maldives, Iran and other countries also offer visa-free access to Chinese tourists. my country has also resumed scheduled passenger flights with 58 countries, and the “Shanghai Third Airport” will start construction in Nantong in November this year. As airlines gradually adjust their flight capacity, the volume of international flights is expected to increase further.
However, many tourism industry players still believe that it may not be until next year’s Spring Festival that outbound tourism will really see an explosive recovery.CYTS Xu XiaoleiHe said that the core of the outbound travel business is products and services, especially the relay service for group tours. Therefore, it is not necessary to organize everything by yourself, but also to cooperate with outbound travel suppliers. Travel agencies need to actively communicate with suppliers, support each other, coordinate and sort out together, and systematically repair the product chain and service chain at one time.
