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A hoped-for boom in Chinese tourism in Asia over next week’s Lunar New Year holidays looks set to be more of a blip as most travellers opt to stay inside China if they go anywhere.
From the beaches of Bali to Hokkaido’s powdery ski slopes, the hordes of Chinese often seen in pre-COVID days will still be missing, tour operators say.
It’s a bitter disappointment for many businesses that had been hoping lean pandemic times were over after Beijing relaxed restrictions on travel and stopped requiring weeks-long quarantines. Still, bookings for overseas travel have skyrocketed, suggesting it’s only a matter of time until the industry recovers.
COVID-19 risks are another big factor as outbreaks persist following the policy about-face in China. People are possibly not ready, or just getting ready. For now, the Chinese territories of Macao and Hong Kong appear to be the most favored destinations.
Just days before Sunday’s start of the Lunar New Year, iconic tourist spots in the former Portuguese colony, like historic Senado Square and the Ruins of St. Paul’s, were packed. Gambling floors at two major casinos were largely full, with groups of Chinese visitors sitting around the craps tables.
That worry is keeping many would-be vacation goers at home even after China relaxed “zero COVID” restrictions that sought to isolate all cases with mass testing and onerous quarantines.
“The elderly in my family have not been infected, and I don’t want to take any risks. There’s also the possibility of being infected again by other variants. Africa was in my bucket list before the pandemic, but despite yearning to travel overseas. There are still uncertainties, so I will exercise restraint,” said Zheng Xiaoli, 44, an elevator company employee in southern China’s Guangzhou.
According to Trip.com, a major travel services company, overseas travel bookings for the Jan. 21-27 Lunar New Year holidays were up more than five-fold. But that was up from almost nothing the year before, when China’s borders were closed to most travelers.
Reservations for travel to Southeast Asia were up 10-fold, with Thailand a top choice, followed by Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia and Indonesia.
Travel to other favorite places, like the tropical resort island of Bali and Australia, has been constrained by a lack of flights. But that is changing, with new flights being added daily.
Tourism Australia forecasts that spending by international travelers will surpass pre-pandemic levels within a year’s time. Before the disruptions of COVID-19, Chinese accounted for almost one-third of tourist spending, nearly $9 billion.
Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport has increased staffing to cope with more than 140,000 arrivals a day during the Lunar New Year rush, though only individual Chinese travelers will be coming for now — group tours from China have yet to resume.
Still, for many Chinese, the allure of world travel has been eclipsed, for now, by a desire to head to their hometowns and catch up with their families, nearly three years exactly since the first major coronavirus outbreak struck in the central city of Wuhan in one of the biggest catastrophes of modern times.
Isabelle Wang, a finance worker in Beijing, has travelled to Europe, the Middle East and parts of Asia. After three years of a slower-paced life during the pandemic, her priority is to be reunited with her family in Shangrao, a city in south-central China.
“There’s still a lot of time remaining in our lifetimes, and there will certainly be opportunities to go abroad later when we want to,” Isabelle Wang said.
“I think the tourists will return around the end of February or early March at the earliest,” said Sisdivachr Cheewarattaporn, president of the Thai Travel Agents Association, noting that many Chinese lack passports, flights are limited and tour operators are still gearing up to handle group travel.
“I’m so busy every day and don’t have time to rest. Sales had recovered to about 70%-80% of the pre-pandemic days from nearly nothing just weeks ago. Kathy Lin was visiting from Shanghai, partly because it was easy to get a visa but also because she was concerned about the risks of catching COVID-19. “I don’t dare to travel overseas yet,” said souvenir shop owner Lee Hong-soi.
“You will see an increase, certainly, compared with last year, when China was still closed, but I don’t think you will see a huge surge of outbound travellers to different destinations within Asia-Pacific, let alone Europe or the Americas,” said Haiyan Song, a professor of international tourism at Hong Kong Polytechnic University._APnews
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