Travel Bookings Jump Nearly Six-Fold as Chinese Head Offshore for New Year(Yicai) Dec. 18 -- Bookings for trips from China over the New Year holiday have surged almost 500 percent from a year earlier, boosted by recently eased visa requirements for Chinese visitors to Singapore, Thailand, and other places.
Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand, South Korea, and Singapore are the most popular destinations for Chinese citizens, according to data from travel agents Trip.Com. Those born in the 1980s and 1990s account for nearly 70 percent of outbound travelers over the holiday period.
Singapore relaxed its visa policy for Chinese citizens on Dec. 7, with eight other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations having done so previously. The Philippines is the only exception.
The re-opening of air routes in the Asia-Pacific region has been faster than in Europe and North America, Zhao Nan, department director of flight tracking application Umetrip, told Yicai.
With the gradual resumption of European routes and the constant increase in direct flights between China and the United States, passenger volumes on these routes are expected to accelerate the recovery process, making the international market a focal point of growth next year, Zhao added.
Inbound tourism has also gathered pace in the days leading up to New Year, with bookings up almost 400 percent as of Dec. 15 from a year ago, according to Trip.Com.
Train tickets for Jan. 1 went on sale online on Dec. 16, with some busy routes immediately sold out, data from online travel agency Tongcheng showed. The most popular destinations are the four megacities of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen as well as Hangzhou, Changsha, Chengdu, Chongqing, Harbin, and Zhengzhou.
Bookings for train tickets over New Year surged 194 percent, while those for air tickets more than tripled, according to Trip.Com. Domestic flight bookings exceeded 1.2 million as of Dec. 12, Umetrip’s data showed.
Passenger volumes could reach record highs over New Year, Chinese New Year in February, and many other national holidays, Zhao predicted.
Editors: Shi Yi, Martin Kadiev
