“China will reclaim its top position as main source market for international tourism,” exclaimed Dr. Wolfgang Georg Arlt, CEO of the China Outbound Tourism Research Institute (COTRI). Citing the work of CONTRI Analytics, the research part of the organization’s apparatus, Arlt said in a statement accompanying the release of a new report that China’s outbound travel will reach a full recovery by the end of 2022.
Essentially shut down earlier this year by the impact of a global pandemic brought on by the COVID-19 virus, outbound travel from China has a bright outlook, suggested Arlt, noting, “Travelers from Mainland China can be expected to be responsible for more than a million border crossings, with the Special Administrative Region Macau as main destination. However, a number of other countries in Asia welcome Chinese visitors again, including Thailand, Laos, Japan, Singapore and others. Chinese citizens within the Schengen region in Europe can also travel between European countries.”
“Obviously China is the ‘tallest within a group of dwarfs’ in this development,” he added. “In November 2019 more than ten million Chinese traveled abroad and other source markets also sent out millions on international business and leisure trips. However, it is important to notice that the often-cited ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ looks very much like a Chinese lantern.”
Next Year Looks Better and the year after should see a full recovery! For the whole year of 2020, COTRI ANALYTICS expects a number of 18 million Chinese international trips, most of which however happened in January, representing about 10 percent of the number for 2019.
| For 2021, COTRI Analytics forecasts around 100 million international trips of Chinese citizens. |
According to Arlt, “There are many million Chinese waiting eagerly to travel abroad again. With CoViD-19 almost defeated in East Asia and vaccines hopefully becoming available in a few weeks, we should see a wave of Chinese outbound travelers starting Chinese New Year travelling to Asia and after Easter to Europe. It will take time to get visa regimes and air connections back on track, that’s why we only forecast about 100 million trips in 2021. In 2022 however, we are very likely to see a new record number of outbound trips.”
Said Arlt: “China will recover quicker than other source markets and Chinese travelers will look for new, less crowded and friendly destinations offering quality products adopted to their specific demands, which will be different in post-virus times compared to previous years. Destinations and service providers better start now to prepare for these ‘new’ Chinese guests.”
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And then there is this, from pandaily.com:
“As travel bans were lifted and people settled into the post-pandemic new normal, China’s tourism has been revived by citizens eager to make up for the trips they missed during the lockdowns. Premium quality tourism products and themed tours are taking China’s tourism by storm, according to the 2020 Domestic Tourism Revival Report jointly released by research institution China Tourism Academy and travel agency Trip.com.” (Click here to read the complete article.)
