Reporter Yan Liting
Stimulated by the loosening of epidemic prevention and control policies, the online travel market ushered in a new wave of recovery.
On the evening of December 26, the National Health and Medical Commission issued a notice on the implementation of the "Class B and B Control" overall plan for new coronavirus infection, announcing that starting from January 8, 2023, the nucleic acid test for all personnel after entering China will be cancelled. Centralized isolation policy, personnel entering China can enter the customs normally with a 48-hour nucleic acid test and a health declaration. This means that the entry quarantine and the civil aviation "five ones" policy that have been implemented for nearly three years will all be cancelled.
Affected by this, there is a surge in going abroad during the Spring Festival. Within half an hour of the above release, the search volume of popular overseas destinations on the Ctrip platform increased by 10 times year-on-year, and the searches for outbound (including Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan) air tickets and overseas hotels all reached the peak in three years. Japan, Thailand, South Korea and many other popular outbound destinations before the epidemic have seen a significant increase in search interest. Among them, the search volume for Spring Festival outbound and group tour products soared 6 times.
It is worth noting that although the total amount of domestic outbound travel has been sluggish since the epidemic, the per capita consumption of outbound tourists has not fallen but has risen. 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 due to the 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 point of view, the per capita spending of high-star hotels in Asian countries has declined. According to Ctrip data, the prices of five-star hotels in Thailand, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, and other countries have dropped by 20-30% compared with the prices before the epidemic in the past six months. For example, the per capita spending 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%; Japan and South Korea have dropped by about 20%.
"Tourists from mainland China have contributed a lot to international travel in Asia. At present, 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." With favorable policies and price discounts, it is believed that these areas will be the first to attract the attention of Chinese tourists, and Ctrip's outbound travel recovery layout will gradually start from these areas.
However, there are still certain restrictions on visas. Ctrip pointed out that the current passport is newly issued or expired, and the needs of business, study abroad, and visiting relatives are still the first priority; most overseas countries have opened visa processing, but due to the epidemic, the lack of staff in many consulates has delayed visa processing.
Even so, the enthusiasm for outbound travel is still hard to restrain. According to Ctrip visa data, since December 7, the number of overseas visa applications has increased by more than 12 times compared with last year. Singapore, Japan, South Korea, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and other countries are more popular in applying for visas.
"The release of the new regulations has ensured a smoother environment for cross-border travel from the policy level, and will effectively mobilize tourists' willingness to travel." Fang Zeqian said that Ctrip is also looking forward to the further implementation of outbound tourism policies. The spring of has come."
