Poster News Reporter Zhou Lingfeng reports
New Year’s Day and the Spring Festival of the Year of the Dragon are approaching in 2024. In addition to domestic travel, outbound travel has also become a popular choice for many tourists. Recently, many countries have implemented visa facilitation measures for Chinese tourists to varying degrees. In addition to countries such as Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore, which have successively issued visa-free policies for Chinese tourists, Sri Lanka also recently announced that visa fees will be waived until the end of March next year. Indonesia is also considering implementing a visa-free entry policy for Chinese tourists, and Thailand has stated that it is considering significantly extending the visa-free entry policy to 90 days on the basis of the current 30 days.
The recovery period for outbound travel is more difficult than expected
According to public data from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, during the 8-day Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays, the number of domestic tourists traveling during the Mid-Autumn Festival was 826 million, an increase of 4.1% from 2019 on a comparable basis; however, compared with Compared with the popular domestic tourism, the data on outbound tourism is not optimistic. During the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays this year, border inspection agencies across the country inspected a total of 11.818 million people entering and exiting the country, which was 85.1% of the same period in 2019.
Image source: Ministry of Culture and Tourism official website
Judging from the current market reaction, the recovery period for outbound travel is far more difficult than expected. For this reason, some countries have introduced policies such as "visa-free" in order to attract Chinese tourists. Airlines and hotels are also actively cooperating in opening new routes and freezing prices.
Multi-country visa-free policies provide consumers with more choices
After Thailand took the lead in issuing visa exemptions, many countries have recently released intensive visa-free policies for China. On December 7, Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Lawrence Wong revealed at the Singapore-China Joint Committee on Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC) meeting in Tianjin that on the basis of the increasing number of flights between Singapore and China, the two sides will strengthen mutual cooperation through a 30-day visa exemption arrangement. personnel exchanges between the two countries.
Picture source: Xinhua News Agency
Reporters found that not only Thailand and Singapore, but also many countries have recently modified their entry visa-free policies. For example, starting from December 1, Malaysia will implement convenient visa-free measures for Chinese citizens to enter the country for 30 days. Starting from November 28, Sri Lanka has officially implemented a visa fee-free policy for tourists from seven countries, including China, which is valid until March 31, 2024. Earlier, countries such as Georgia, Benin, Tunisia, Angola, Kyrgyzstan and Kiribati also successively issued new entry policies.
In terms of airlines, China Southern Airlines plans to resume the Shanghai-Japan route at the end of December; the "China-Africa Air Express" has been launched, and the "Guangzhou to Addis Ababa" route operated by Ethiopian Airlines will be encrypted for both passenger and cargo flights. 10 flights per week... The resumption of flights and increased flights of various airlines have also provided tourists with an optional route for outbound travel.
Li Sha, an international travel salesperson at Ctrip Travel, told reporters that the visa-free policy of the "Singapore-Malaysia-Thailand Visa-Free Golden Route" will provide consumers with more choices for Southeast Asian travel.
We all want to win more Chinese tourists in 2024
"Just as the New Year is approaching, Sri Lanka has a 30-day trial period for the new visa-free policy for China. I hope that through this roadshow, it can radiate and drive the enthusiasm of tourists from the entire East China region to travel to the local area and seize the opportunity." China has a larger outbound tourism market share.” On December 15, Sri Lanka Tourism Bureau made a special trip to Hangzhou to hold a promotion meeting with the latest tourism policies.
It is understood that before the epidemic, China ranked as Sri Lanka's second largest source of tourists. The peak was in 2016, with more than 280,000 Chinese tourists. In the first 11 months of 2023, Sri Lanka's tourism industry received nearly 1.3 million tourists from around the world, an increase of more than 103% compared with the same period in 2022. Among them, the number of Chinese tourists received was 60,515, nearly 15 times the number for the same period in 2022.
A travel agency’s Sri Lanka travel package
Reporters found that many domestic travel agencies have begun to formulate travel packages for Sri Lanka and other countries, taking advantage of the visa-free policy. “A lot of inquiries have been made recently, and they all want to take advantage of the Spring Festival holiday to travel.” A staff member of a travel agency told reporters that some visa-free countries also have varying degrees of discounts on air tickets and hotel prices, which allows consumers to spend the least money. , seeing the most beautiful scenery is their first choice.
The person in charge of Sri Lankan Airlines offered preferential benefits to Chinese tourists at the promotion meeting. SriLankan Airlines launched a limited edition 580 yuan ticket (excluding tax), hoping to attract more Chinese tourists to come to Sri Lanka for vacation. Through this Hangzhou roadshow promotion event , radiating and radiating the enthusiasm of tourists in the entire East China region for outbound travel.
From the "olive branch" offered by visas to the "diving price" of air ticket prices, popular outbound destinations such as Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Malaysia want to win more Chinese tourists in 2024.
