Original title: Cross-border travel starts: Asian countries "group" to welcome Chinese tourists, Guangzhou tourists fly to Los Angeles with 90,000 yuan air ticket

　　At 0:17 on January 8, 2023, China Southern Airlines flight CZ312 departing from Toronto landed at Guangzhou Baiyun Airport, becoming the first inbound flight after China fully relaxed entry restrictions for the first time in three years. centralized isolation.

　　At 6:31, flight NZ289 departing from Auckland slowly arrived at Terminal T2 of Pudong International Airport. This flight became the first flight to enter Shanghai after the implementation of the new measures.

At the entrance of the border inspection and entry inspection hall, the border inspection officers on duty guide passengers to enter the venue in an orderly manner, and the police on duty in the inspection channel quickly check and handle the customs clearance procedures for passengers, and the customs clearance is smooth and smooth.

　　According to the "Overall Plan for the Implementation of "Class B and B Controls" for Novel Coronavirus Infection" (hereinafter referred to as the "Class B and B Controls" Overall Plan), starting from January 8, China officially canceled entry nucleic acid testing and centralized isolation, and canceled " The "Five Ones" and passenger load factor restrictions and other measures to control the number of international passenger flights have resumed the outbound travel of Chinese citizens in an orderly manner.

Hong Kong becomes the TOP1 departure place for same-day inbound air tickets

　　"Finally see the light of day!" Ah Hao, a Hong Kong tourism practitioner who has been traveling for decades, said happily, watching the flow of people queuing up in Hong Kong's Central District to take a boat to Shenzhen.

20 years ago, Ah Hao took a Hong Kong delegation to the mainland from here. Three years after the epidemic, the popularity of this place has recovered again.

　　Users of Trip.com Hong Kong station booked flights from Hong Kong to the mainland, with a 290% increase compared to the same day last month, and a 166% increase in hotel reservations in the mainland.

The enthusiasm of mainland tourists to go to Hong Kong has risen sharply. From January 5 to January 7, the number of orders for mainland users to book flights to Hong Kong on the Ctrip platform increased by 190% compared with the same period last month.

　　"The mainland market has huge tourism potential." Many interviewed Hong Kong tourism industry professionals said frankly that mainland tourists are a group that Hong Kong's tourism industry attaches great importance to. Nearly 80% of the total annual visits to Hong Kong.

　　The relevant person in charge from Hong Kong K11 said, "We are very much looking forward to the customs clearance between the mainland and Hong Kong after three years, and hope that the arrival of mainland tourists will bring new vitality to Hong Kong's tourism industry."

　　Qunar platform data shows that with the announcement of favorable policies one by one, the number of air ticket bookings to Hong Kong from December 27 to January 7 has more than tripled.

On the Qunar platform, the number of hotel room nights booked in Macau for December 2022 has exceeded that of the same period in 2019.

In addition to the three ports, the airport and the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, Hong Kong’s first phase of official customs clearance channels on January 8 can also reach the mainland by boat from the China Ferry Terminal and the Hong Kong-Macau Ferry Terminal.

Since the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau ferry tickets were launched on January 6, the search volume for Hong Kong-Shenzhen ferry tickets on the Qunar platform has increased by more than 50% every hour.

　　Same-journey travel data shows that Hong Kong, China became the TOP1 departure place for inbound air tickets on the day. The number of inbound and outbound air ticket orders for travel on January 8 increased by 628% year-on-year, setting a peak since March 2020.

Among them, inbound flight orders accounted for 48%, and outbound flight orders accounted for 52%.

On that day, the number of air ticket orders from Hong Kong, China to the mainland increased by 62% month-on-month, and the main inbound destinations included Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Wuhan and Nanjing.

Many Asian countries are "holding together" to welcome Chinese tourists

　　Since the release of the "Class B and B Management" overall plan on December 27 last year, the enthusiasm of Chinese tourists for travel is accelerating.

　　According to Ctrip data, since December 27, 2022, from the perspective of users in mainland China, the most popular destinations for cross-border flights include Macau, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Phnom Penh and other cities.

　　Qunar platform data shows that for international air tickets with a departure date from January 8 to February 15 during the Spring Festival travel season, the average outbound price is 3,481 yuan, and the popular destinations are Thailand, Macau, South Korea, the United States and Singapore; The price is 4446 yuan, and the popular departure places are South Korea, Hong Kong, Thailand, Macau and Malaysia.

　　Most of the above destination cities are Asian cities, and there are no special restrictions on the entry of mainland Chinese tourists.

　　Data from Ctrip Visa also shows that policy-friendly destinations are more popular with tourists.

Since December 27, 2022, the number of visa business orders in Singapore has increased by more than 30 times year-on-year, and the month-on-month increase has reached 123%; visa bookings for Malaysia and other countries have also increased by nearly 100% month-on-month.

　　Shouting "China is back", the Thailand tourism market is even more favored by Chinese tourists.

Since December 27 last year, among the hotel reservations made by mainland tourists on Ctrip for a stay of more than 20 days, Thailand's hotel reservations accounted for almost half of the country, accounting for 44%.

Spending the first long vacation in Thailand after the liberalization of entry policies has become the choice of many mainland tourists.

　　The Tourism Authority of Thailand recently issued a forecast that the number of Chinese tourists visiting Thailand will reach 5 million in 2023, compared to 274,000 in the past 2022.

　　Many Asian countries are "holding together" to welcome the arrival of Chinese tourists.

Malaysia recently estimated that it will receive 1.5 million to 2 million Chinese tourists in 2023.

Relevant industry players in Singapore estimate that the return of Chinese tourists will bring an additional 2 billion Singapore dollars in revenue to Singapore throughout the year.

　　"Since China announced the liberalization of the entry policy, embassies and tourism bureaus of Thailand and other countries have expressed their welcome to Chinese tourists. The return of Chinese tourists is worth looking forward to for any destination in the world. Especially For the recent Asian market, it will play a significant role in boosting.” Shen Jiani, a senior researcher at the Strategic Research Center of Ctrip Research Institute, believes that with the liberalization of entry policies, Chinese tourists’ travel confidence will be rebuilt at an accelerated pace, and tourism consumption confidence will be restored at a faster pace.

At the same time, the "return" of Chinese tourists will bring new vitality to the global tourism industry.

　　Although the Ministry of Culture and Tourism has not yet resumed the "group tour" and "air ticket + hotel" independent travel business in the outbound travel of travel agencies, there is still a substantial increase in the number of inquiries and reservations for "single air ticket" and "single hotel".

According to Spring Airlines, in the past week, Spring Airlines’ flight bookings from Shanghai Pudong Airport to Hong Kong, China, Macau, Tokyo, Japan, and Phuket, Thailand more than doubled from the previous week.

Zhou Weihong, deputy general manager of Spring and Autumn Tourism, believes that the adjustment of the entry policy for international tourists in mainland China on January 8 does not mean that a large number of outbound travel will start. Most of the tourists who choose to leave the country at this time are still due to rigid needs, such as visiting relatives. , business, etc.

　　It is worth noting that many business travelers who went abroad in December last year delayed their return date after the policy was released.

According to data from Tongcheng Business Travel, 51% of users who booked inbound business travel tickets between December 27, 2022 and January 7, 2023 chose to postpone the return date to January 8 by changing or refunding the ticket. day later.

　Passenger 90,000 yuan ticket from Guangzhou to Los Angeles

　　According to data from Ctrip, after a three-year absence, the enthusiasm of some tourists has recently exploded.

Since the official announcement of the liberalization of entry policies, the most expensive flight bill booked by users on the Ctrip platform is 4 air tickets from Shanghai to San Francisco, with an order value of more than 170,000 yuan.

There is also a user in Guangzhou who booked a first-class ticket from Guangzhou to Los Angeles, with a single ticket price exceeding 90,000 yuan.

The ticket with the longest flight mileage is the ticket from Shanghai to Buenos Aires (via Amsterdam), with a flight distance of 19,662 kilometers.

　　From the perspective of hotel reservations, since the official announcement of the entry policy, the number of room nights booked by mainland tourists in overseas hotels has increased significantly compared with the same period last year, an increase of more than 500%, and the price of room night reservations has increased by more than 20% year-on-year.

Bookings in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Pattaya, Chiang Mai, Koh Samui, Phnom Penh, Milan and other cities have increased significantly month-on-month, and many of these cities are from destinations with friendly entry policies for Chinese tourists.

On the reservation side, Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Nanjing, Suzhou, Wuhan, Ningbo, and other inland cities make the most reservations for overseas hotels.

　　Previously, the China Tourism Academy predicted that 2022 will be the year when my country's inbound tourism market bottoms out and rebounds, and there is a high probability that the inbound tourism market will recover significantly in 2023.

There are also "visionary tourists" who hold the same view and have already booked overseas hotels for the New Year's Day holiday in 2024.