● Hate matters: Anti-Asian Hate is influencing travel intentions.
By Karen Yue, group editor, TTG Asia Media*
“Shall we take a moment to talk about the Anti-Asian Hate movement that is raging in the US? On the surface, it seems to have a distant relation to travel and tourism since these hate crimes are mostly aimed at the resident Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community. However, look just a little deeper and you will realize it has a significant effect on travel and tourism.
“… for Asian consumers across the globe watching news about the US’s Anti-Asian Hate movement and taking in social media posts by AAPI citizens who are coming out with their own stories of abuse, there is little difference. Many would wonder if their skin would attract the same treatment should they go to the destination as tourists. This consideration will resurface when they make their travel plans for the future.”
* Yue has been a part of TTG Asia Media for more than 15 years—as a marketing services executive, reporter and editor. She is based in Singapore. Click here to read the complete article, which first appeared in TTG Asia.
● Domestic travel explosion for May Day holidays: The quasi-official Global Times reports that some 200 million Chinese were ready to travel somewhere in China for the May Day holidays (May 1-5) which, the publication said, “are expected to be the hottest Golden Week since the outbreak of the global pandemic.” Bookings for air travel tickets, hotels and scenic spots improved significant from 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic, with the total number of tourists expected to exceed the level recorded in 2019 and hit 200 million, according a Trip.com report.
While closed borders and other restrictions prevent any significant international travel, Chinese holidaymakers seem to have found an outlet for their desire to travel abroad by taking longer trips within China itself. The Global Times reported that, this year, intra-provincial long-distant travel “may post explosive growth,” with about 70 percent of consumers choosing intra-provincial trips, said Trip.com.
● The CNBC business news network last week reported that PayPal is planning to launch a local wallet in China that will focus on cross-border payments, according Hannah Qiu, the China CEO for PayPal. Qiu told CNBC that the U.S. company is planning to launch a domestic wallet in China that will not compete with the dominant Chinese companies for domestic payments but will focus on cross-border payments. Earlier this year, PayPal became the first foreign company to have 100 percent control of a payment platform in China by acquiring a 30 percent stake it did not already own in GoPay. But until the announcement of its plans to launch a local payment platform, PayPal has been quiet on its plans. According to spendmenot.com, PayPal accounts for 22 percent of online transactions in the United States.
