2023 China Travel Tourism New Trends and Opportunities Outlook

Since December 2022, along with the cancellation of PCR testing and allowing test positive to quarantine at home, domestic travel restrictions have now been fully liberalized. In the future, immigration is not ruled out and will gradually liberalize.

Concerning domestic travel trends, the data from Mafengwo shows that in 2021, about 70% of free-traveling users will choose to travel by car after heavy traffic. In 2022, the percentage of users traveling by car will increase to 79%, nine percentage points higher than last year.

In addition, in 2022, 89% of users preferred "short trips," 79% chose "road trips," and weekends and mini-break with friends and family became popular after the epidemic.

The "road trip + camping" method of play makes the summer "parent-child family" road trip tour fever reach the highest throughout the year. Data shows that 55% of users camped with family and friends in 2022 to enjoy leisure time.

In addition, 77% of users prefer "light outdoor," and 68% prefer "parent-child walking." In their opinion, bringing children together to experience nature immersively and to be proficient in the right season and beauty spots is essential.

People prefer hiking, skiing, urban cycling, rock climbing, kayaking, and sailing when choosing fun activities. They also like to experience different cultures and lifestyles while driving and intensely experiencing the local customs, unique beauty, and non-traditional customs.

The most popular are immersion experience museums, DIY handicrafts, special performances, etc. In the road trip entertainment and leisure category, the highest increase was in the types of karting, hot springs, and parent-child parks.

1. Peripheral and local travel will take the lead in recovery.

2. The demand for cross-border travel has been released intensively, and the average travel radius of tourists has expanded;

3. Hot orders from popular international travel destinations and gradual breakthrough in travel consumption radius.

2021 by the impact of the epidemic, the world's major countries adopted entry and exit restriction policies to promote the local tourism market in major cities to accelerate growth. According to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) data, in 2021, the global countries' local tourist travel spending grew by 31.4% year-on-year, and international tourist travel spending grew by 3.8% year-on-year.

Buenos Aires, Argentina, launched a new community attraction, and some businesses offered shopping discounts.

Singapore launched the "Singapo Rediscover" campaign, with the government funding the distribution of travel vouchers to activate local tourism spending.

In addition to local travel, outbound travel demand will also concentrate, and the travel radius will continue to increase.

According to the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) data, the number of outbound travel trips in major overseas regions from January to July 2022 is overgrowing compared with the 2019 data. The Middle East and Europe are ahead of other areas in cross-border travel recovery, which has recovered to 103%/84% of the same period in 2019 in July 2022.

The number of inbound tourists in the Asia Pacific region grew relatively slowly. Some Southeast Asian countries reopened their borders to welcome overseas tourists. Taking the Philippines as an example, the number of inbound tourists in the second quarter of 2022 increased by 29% month on month, ranking first in the Asia Pacific region.

In the future, along with the marginal repair of the epidemic and the easing of entry and exit restrictions, the Asia-Pacific region is expected to achieve a new recovery in inbound tourism. Among them, orders for popular international travel destinations are booming.

According to Forward Keys data, the Caribbean and Latin America led to tourism recovery in the summer of 2022, with countries such as Costa Rica and Jamaica ranking in the list of the 20 most popular tourist destinations worldwide. European regions such as Iceland, Greece, France, and other tourist destination countries show apparent signs of recovery, and overseas travel is expected to further break through geographical restrictions and release consumption potential.

The growth of cross-border travel demand is driving the recovery of international air passenger traffic, further driving the aviation industry's rapid development.

With the country vigorously promoting the resumption of work and production, everyone's travel confidence is expected to recover faster. Domestic routes are expected to take the lead in coming out of the gloom. The recovery of the international market still depends on the trend of the global epidemic and China's anti-epidemic policy.

In addition, under the epidemic's impact, airlines generally have huge losses, the capacity expansion supported by high leverage is unsustainable, and capacity contraction and route adjustment become the strategic direction. Raising fares is the most effective way amidst the fluctuations in oil prices and exchange rates.

Looking forward to the development and investment strategy of the duty-free industry in 2023, the duty-free industry as a whole still has a steady growth space, and the leading Chinese tax-exempt industry's operational advantages at home and abroad are stable and gradually improving.

Among other operators, Wangfujing was qualified for duty-free on the outlying islands within the year. Suppose the outbound traffic and in-city stores expect to land in the future gradually. In that case, it is expected to make efforts in duty-free stores in Beijing, duty-free stores in airports, duty-free stores on outlying islands, and possibly duty-free stores in other mainland provinces and cities and duty-free on Hainan.

Domestic hotel occupancy fluctuates with the recurrence of the epidemic, with the average hotel occupancy rate of nearly 50% year-to-date, recovering to about 70% in FY19. Along with policy optimization and a gradual return to steady growth in consumption, the hotel industry is starting to rebound.

Regarding the experience of overseas countries after the liberalization, the hotel business indicators have warmed up before the quantity, and high-end hotels have rebounded more vigorously.There is still uncertainty about the competitive landscape of the mid to high-end market, and the leading edge is more extraordinary.

In addition, the competition pattern of middle and high-end markets is still uncertain, and the leading edge is more significant. The current market can also accommodate more boutique hotels. Brand validation in the middle and high-end markets is an essential focus after the epidemic. In the traditional market, there is also a trend of simultaneous improvement in house prices and quality to establish a strong consumer mentality.