can chinese travel internationally

China Travel Restrictions & Travel Advisory (Updated June 17, 2024)

Visa-Free Access to China : If you're from France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Austria, Belgium, Hungary, Ireland, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Malaysia, New Zealand, Australia, and Poland, you can visit China visa-free for 15 days until December 31st, 2025. If you're from Singapore, you can relish visa-free access to China for up to 30 days.

If your nationality isn't listed above or if you aim to discover China for more than two weeks, we offer a Port Visa Service for just US$100 per person  once your tour booking is confirmed with us. No stress of embassy visits and visa interviews.

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• What Ways to Enter China
• Do I Still Need a PCR Test to Enter China
• Hong Kong/Macau Travel Restriction

International Flights to China

What to expect when traveling in china, best times to travel to china, 8 ways to enter china: all open now.

Since China has fully permitted visa applications, there are now several ways to enter the country.

If you still hold a valid Chinese visa (any type including a tourist visa, 10-year visa, a port visa, etc.), you can use it to enter China.

If you don't have a Chinese visa or your visa has expired, you can apply for a new one. All visas can now be applied for, including tourist visas, business visas, work visas, and so on. (International visitors can apply for a tourist visa to the Chinese Mainland in Hong Kong.)

For the documents required for a visa application, you can refer to the information given by a Chinese embassy/consulate . Please submit your application at least two months in advance.

To apply for a tourist visa (L visa), you will be asked to provide an invitation letter issued by a Chinese travel agency or individual or round-trip air tickets and hotel bookings.

When booking a private tour with us, we can provide you with an invitation letter, which is one more thing we do to make your travel more convenient, giving you more flexibility with your air tickets and hotel bookings.

Now it is very easy to apply for a visa . You can easily apply by yourself without an intermediary. The following is how one of our clients successfully applied for a Chinese tourist visa:

• First, fill out the form at the China Online Visa Application website ;
• Second, make an appointment on this website to submit your visa materials on Appointment for Visa Application Submission website ;
• Third, take the required documents to the embassy to submit;
• Finally, you will get a return receipt if your documents are qualified.

Usually, you will get your visa after 7 working days. The application fee is about USD185 for US citizens.

Q: What if my passport expires but my visa doesn't?

A: You can travel to China on the expired passport containing valid Chinese visa in combination with the new passport, provided that the identity information (name, date of birth, gender, nationality) on both passport identical.

If there is a change to any of the above details, you must apply for a new visa.

2. 144-Hour Visa-Free Transit Policy

If you do not apply for a Chinese visa, you may still have the opportunity to visit these areas of China visa free: the Shanghai area (including Suzhou, Hangzhou, etc.), the Beijing area (with Tianjin and Hebei), the Guangzhou area (Shenzhen, Zhuhai, etc.), and more. Take advantage of the 6-day visa-free entitlements.

Find out if you could use the 144-hour visa-free transit policy with our information on China's 144-hour Visa-Free Policy (Eligible Entry/Exit Ports, Applicable Countries, Documents to be Prepared...)

You can also obtain entry and exit control policies through the 24-hour hotline of the National Immigration Administration:

• Beijing: 0086 (+86)-10-12367
• Shanghai: 0086 (+86)-21-12367
• Guangzhou: 0086 (+86)-20-12367

Quick Test: Will My Route Qualify for China 72/144-Hour Visa-Free Transit?

1. I will depart from (only applies to direct or connected flight):

2. I will arrive in China at [city], [airport / railway station / port].

3. My arrival date is...

4. I will leave for [country/region] from China (the bounding destination on the air ticket):

5. My departure date is...

6. My nationality is...

8. I have Chinese visa refusal stamps in my passport.

You qualify to enjoy China's 72-hour visa-free policy.

You qualify to enjoy China's 144-hour visa-free policy.

You don't qualify to enjoy China's 72-hour or 144-hour visa-free policy.

Reason you don't qualify:

• You must be in transit to a third country or region.
• You must leave the city area (prefecture or municipality) after the 72/144 hours (the 72/144-hour limit is calculated starting from 00:00 on the day after arrival, i.e. 24:00 on the arrival date).
• Your passport must be valid for more than 3 months at the time of entry into China.
• Your passport nationality is not eligible for the 72/144-hour visa exemption program.
• You have Chinese visa refusal stamps in your passport.

3. Port Visas (Landing Visas)

If you don't have time to get a visa, or if you find it cumbersome to apply for a tourist visa, you could consider traveling to China through a port visa.

Port visas can be applied for a group at least including 2 people. You need to enter the country within 15 days after you get your entry permit. The port visa allows a stay period of 1 to 2 months.

Applicable ports include Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Xiamen, Guilin, Xi'an, Chengdu, etc.

Book your China trip with us and we can help you apply for a port visa.

4. Visa Exemption for ASEAN Tour Groups to Guilin

In addition, tour groups from ASEAN member countries, including Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Singapore, Myanmar, Brunei, and the Philippines, can visit Guilin for 144 hours without visas as long as they meet the visa-free transit policy requirements.

5. Shanghai Visa-Free Policy for Cruise Groups

Shanghai has a 15-day visa-free policy for foreign tourist groups entering China via a cruise. You must arrive and depart on the same cruise and be received by a Chinese travel agent at the Shanghai Cruise Terminal (or Wusong Passenger Center).

6. Hainan Visa-Free Access

No visa is required for staying on Hainan Island for up to 30 days for ordinary passport holders from 59 countries. Groups and individual tourists must book a tour through an accredited travel agency.

Find out whether you qualify for the policy here .

7. Visa Exemption for the Pearl River Delta Area

International travelers from Hong Kong or Macau are able to visit the Pearl River Delta area (Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, etc.) visa-free as long as they go with a registered tour provider, such as us.

8. APEC Cards

If you hold a valid APEC business travel card, you can simply enter China with the card without applying for a visa.

Travelers who hold a valid APEC business travel card can stay in China for up to 60 days.

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Do I Still Need a PCR Test or Antigen Self-Test to Enter China

No. Starting from August 30, all travelers entering China will no longer need to undergo any COVID-19 testing. You do not need to submit any test results for COVID-19 before departure.

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Hong Kong / Macau Travel Restriction

Hong kong entry requirements.

Travelers from any region bound for Hong Kong will no longer need to take pre-flight COVID-19 tests (no PCR test, no RAT test) from April 1.

There is also no need for any tests when traveling from Hong Kong to the Chinese Mainland. Hong Kong could be a good gateway for your China trip. See suggestions on China Itineraries from Hong Kong (from 1 Week to 3 Weeks).

Direct high-speed trains from Guangzhou and Shenzhen to Hong Kong are available now. In preparation for the Canton Fair, it is expected that direct high-speed ferries will be launched from Guangzhou Pazhou Port to Hong Kong's airport in mid-April.

• 10 Top China Tours from Hong Kong

Macau Entry Requirement

From August 30, travelers from any region bound for Macau will no longer need to take pre-flight COVID-19 tests (no PCR test, no RAT test).

There is also no need for any tests when traveling from Macau to the Chinese Mainland.

Inbound and outbound international flights in the week beginning March 6th rose by more than 350% compared with a year earlier, to nearly 2,500 flights, according to Chinese flight tracking data from APP Flight Master.

At present, there are one or two direct flights a week from New York to Shanghai, Los Angeles to Beijing, Seattle to Shanghai, London to Guangzhou, etc.

There are also many flight options with stopovers that are more frequent and affordable. Testing at transit airports is now not required!

The Coronavirus outbreak in China has subsided. China looks like it did in 2019 again. No special measures (like PCR tests or health codes) are required when traveling around China. All attractions are open as normal.

Wearing a mask is not mandatory when traveling. In hotels, masks are off for the most part. But in some crowded places, such as airports or subway stations, many people still wear masks.

Weather-wise, the best times to visit China are spring (April–May) and autumn (September–October), when most of the popular places have their most tourism-friendly weather, except for the "golden weeks" — the first week of May and of October — when most attractions are flooded with Chinese tourists.

If you are looking for smaller crowds, favorable prices, and still good weather, you should consider March and April or September.

Tourism in cultural and historical destinations like Beijing, Shanghai, and Xi'an is hardly affected by weather conditions. They are suitable to be visited all year round.

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Tour China with Us

We've been building our team for over 20 years. Even over the past three years we have continued, serving over 10,000 expats with China tours and getting a lot of praise (see TripAdvisor ).

We are based in China and can show you the characteristics and charm of China from a unique perspective. Just contact us to create your China trip .

Our consultants will listen to and answer your inquiries carefully and prepare the best plan for you.

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Chinese Outbound and Inbound Travel Rules Roundup

To help keep the travel industry up to date and informed, we’re tracking all the latest developments and regulations regarding travel into and out of mainland china..

First published: 22 March, 2021 Last updated: 10 August, 2023

To help keep the travel industry up to date and informed, we’re tracking all the latest developments and regulations regarding travel into and out of mainland China. This post will be regularly updated with any new or changing policies.

Have we missed something? Please feel free to send questions or comments to [email protected]

For more updates, sign up for Dragon Trail’s monthly newsletter , and follow us on social media: – LinkedIn – Twitter – Facebook

All Dragon Trail clients receive an extensive Market Intelligence Report on China travel and digital news at the start of each month. Click here to learn more about the services we provide to help you effectively reach and engage with the Chinese consumer market and trade.

– From 8 January 2023, China no longer requires any quarantine for international arrivals. Passengers must have a negative COVID test result from within 48 hours of departure, and complete a China Customs health self-declaration online, via website, WeChat mini-program, or app. Inbound travelers to China will no longer need to apply for a green health code from the Chinese embassy in the country of departure.

– From 29 April 2023, all travelers to China from any point of departure will be able to take an antigen test, rather than a PCR test. Tests should be taken within 48 hours of departure, but airlines will no longer be required to check test results before allowing passengers to check in or board.

– From 15 March 2023: Foreigners can apply for any kind of visa – including tourism visas – to China. Visas to enter China which were issued before 28 March 2020 and have not yet expired, will become valid once again.

– From 31 March 2023: Foreigners can now travel to China as part of group tours, and buy travel packages (minimum flight + hotel) to travel to/in China.

– China’s National Immigration Administration resumed normal passport application processing on 8 January 2023, including passports needed for the purpose of tourism and VFR travel. Previously, new passports and passport renewals were for “essential” reasons (including business travel and study) only.

– On 20 January, it was announced that sale of outbound group and package travel (from a minimum of a flight + hotel package) could resume, for travel on or after 6 February 2023. To begin with, this policy is only for travel to 20 countries: Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Laos, UAE, Egypt, Kenya, South Africa, Russia, Switzerland, Hungary, New Zealand, Fiji, Cuba, and Argentina. Previously, the sale of outbound group and package travel was banned by China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism, starting from 27 January, 2020.

– The Ministry of Culture and Tourism released a second list of countries for group and package travel on 10 March, with travel permitted from 15 March. The countries are: Nepal, Brunei, Vietnam, Mongolia, Iran, Jordan, Tanzania, Namibia, Mauritius, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Zambia, Senegal, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Serbia, Croatia, France, Greece, Spain, Iceland, Albania, Italy, Denmark, Portugal, Slovenia, Vanuatu, Tonga, Samoa, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Panama, Dominica, El Salvador, Dominican Republic, and the Bahamas.

– On 10 August 2023, an additional 78 countries were added to the list where travel agents are allowed to sell group tours and package travel: Oman, Pakistan, Bahrain, South Korea, Qatar, Lebanon, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Japan, Turkey, Israel, India, Algeria, Ethiopia, Benin, Botswana, Equatorial Guinea, Cape Verde, Ghana, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Rwanda, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Morocco, Mozambique, Seychelles, Sao Tome and Principe, Tunisia, Ireland, Estonia, Andorra, Austria, Belarus, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Poland, Germany, Finland, Netherlands, Montenegro, Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Romania, Malta, Monaco, Norway, Sweden, Cyprus, Slovakia, United Kingdom, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Grenada, Costa Rica, United States, Mexico, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Guyana, Suriname, Venezuela, Australia, Papua New Guinea, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, French Polynesia, French New Caledonia. At 138 countries in total, compared to 130 at the start of 2019, Chinese outbound group travel can be seen as fully restored, despite the absence of several countries (notably Canada) from this last list.

–  Mainland China’s border with Hong Kong reopened on 8 January 2023, with high-speed train services resuming on 15 January. As of 6 February, the mainland-Hong Kong-Macau border has been reopened completely, back to how it was before the pandemic.

– With China reopening for outbound travel, a number of countries around the world decided to impose restrictions on travelers from China in January 2023. Countries requiring negative COVID tests from within 48 hours of departure for visitors from China included: Australia, EU countries, India, Israel, Japan, Qatar, South Korea, UK, and USA. Japan and South Korea limited the airports into which flights from mainland China could land. Morocco banned travelers from China altogether.

These additional requirements for travelers from China were all phased out by the spring of 2023:

– India dropped its pre-departure testing requirement for travelers from China on 13 February 2023.

– From mid-February 2023, South Korea and China are now both issuing visas to each other’s citizens. Earlier in the year, South Korea had suspended issuing short-term visas to Chinese citizens, and in response, China stopped issuing short-term visas to Korean citizens. Searches for Korean visas on OTA Fliggy increased 1,179% within a few days of the change. COVID testing on arrival to South Korea ended 1 March, with pre-departure COVID testing scrapped from 11 March.

– On 17 February 2023, the EU announced it would phase out COVID testing for passengers from China, starting by ending pre-departure testing from the end of February, and ending random screenings in March.

– Israel ended pre-departure testing requirements for travelers from China on 28 February.

– Japan canceled pre-departure testing requirements for travelers from China from 1 March.

– The US dropped its COVID testing requirements for travelers from China from 10 March.

– Australia ended its testing requirements for travelers from China from 11 March.

– Canada ended testing requirements for travelers from China from 17 March.

– The UK ended testing requirements for travelers from China on 5 April.

On 11 November 2022, China’s circuit breaker policy, which had suspended flights as a consequence for having positive cases on board a previous flight, was lifted entirely.

By the end of July 2023, international flight volume had recovered to 46.9% of 2019’s levels. Recovery is uneven depending on destination. For example, flight capacity between China and the UK is now fully recovered, but on the other end of the spectrum, there are still only 24 flights a week between China and the US as of 10 August 2023 — just 6.5% of the pre-pandemic volume. ( See a snapshot of international flight connectivity for 17-23 July here. )

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Can I travel to China from the United States?

Most visitors from the United States, regardless of vaccination status, can enter China.

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Fully vaccinated visitors from the United States can enter China without restrictions.

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Unvaccinated visitors from the United States can enter China without restrictions.

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Visitors from the United States are not required to present a negative COVID-19 PCR test or antigen result upon entering China.

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It Just Got Easier for Americans to Visit China—Here's What to Know

I was recently applying for a new passport, dreaming of all the new stamps and visas I’d collect, when I wondered: “Can Americans travel to China?” As it turns out, some recent policy changes out of Beijing have made it easier than ever to marvel at the Great Wall of China , take in the cosmopolitan bustle of Shanghai , and devour spicy Sichuan -style dishes at the source.

As of January 1, 2024, US travelers applying for tourist visas to China are no longer required to present proof of roundtrip tickets for travel, hotel reservations, or specific itineraries. The development came after a declaration in December by the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the United States that states both countries mutually agreed to simplify the visa process in an effort to “facilitate people-to-people exchanges between China and the United States.”

To learn more about how US passport holders can travel to China, I reached out to travel specialists with deep expertise in tourism in China and Asia more broadly: Mei Zhang, the founder of WildChina and a member of Condé Nast Traveler ’s Global Advisory Board ; and Catherine Heald, co-founder and CEO of Remote Lands , a luxury travel advisor specializing in destinations throughout Asia.

Here’s what you need to know about traveling to China with a US passport in 2024.

Can Americans travel to China?

Yes, Americans can travel to China for tourism purposes. The country previously upheld travel restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, from early 2020 to March 2023. At the time, a quarantine period was required of anyone who entered the country; additionally, Zhang of WildChina explains, flights between the United States and China were extremely limited, and so tickets were prohibitively expensive .

Interest in travel to China has increased in recent months, says Heald of Remote Lands, thanks to the new visa application rules that have come into effect in 2024: “Even when the country opened, obtaining a visa was somewhat difficult, so it did not really see an influx of travelers from the US until this year.”

What kind of visa do I need to visit China?

US passport holders need a visa to visit China, obtained in advance of travel, i.e. there is no “visa on arrival” option. Tourist visas valid for ten years and good for multi-entry use must be acquired though a Chinese embassy or consulate, or a visa service. Currently, for US citizens, the cost for a tourist visa for travel to China is $140, whether for single-use or multi-entry use. This is a reduced fee, in effect until December 31, 2024 .

According to the Chinese embassy in the United States, the tourist visa application requirements include: a passport with at least six-months’ validity and two blank pages; a photocopy of the passport’s ID page; a completed application form, filled out online and printed; proof of residence, like a driver’s license or a utility bill; and a completed “ Where You Stay Form ” that attests the applicant is currently applying for a visa from within the US.

Admittedly, the steps are a bit more involved than the path you’d walk (or fly) to countries to which US citizens easily have access, or to destinations that offer visa-on-arrival programs. “When it feels too convoluted to navigate on your own, we recommend using a visa service like CIBT to make it easier,” Zhang says.

If you’re just transiting through China (if you have a 12-hour layover in Shanghai, for example, and want to go into the city before flying to your final stop), you’re in luck: Heald says that in certain Chinese cities, foreign nationals from 54 countries, including the US, are eligible for the 24-, 72-, or 144-hour transit visa-free policies, as long as they stay within certain areas and can present proof of confirmed dates of travel to a third country.

For first-timers visiting China, experts suggest an itinerary that includes one, two, or all three of the Chinese metropolitan triumvirate: Beijing, Xi’an, and Shanghai.

When is the best time to visit China?

Spring and fall are the best times to travel in China, according to Zhang and Heald. “ Summer can be very hot, depending on where you are in China, and also busier than usual, since kids are on summer break and traveling with their families during this time,” Zhang says.

She also recommends to plan travel around the calendar of Chinese national holidays, since travel can be more challenging due to the heightened amount of activity. “The main holidays to avoid are Chinese New Year, the May Day holiday in the first week of May, and Golden Week, which is the first week of October).” It’s a fair point, but if those times are what work for you, don’t let the craze of the crowds stop you. I imagine it would truly be an awesome sight to see, a Chinese city or town celebrating the Lunar New Year .

I’m visiting China for the first time—what city should I visit?

Both Zhang and Heald suggest an itinerary that includes one, two, or all three of the Chinese metropolitan triumvirate: Beijing , Xi’an, and Shanghai. Go for the Forbidden City and the Great Wall in the capital, see the iconic Terracotta Warriors in Xi’an, and head to the Bund for the skyscraper-laden cosmopolitan side of China (where you can stay at the Peninsula Shanghai , an editor-favorite hotel featured on the Condé Nast Traveler Gold List for 2024 ).

If you’re keen to get a little bit of all three—including the Sichuan city of Chengdu—Heald recommends the Classic China tour offered by Remote Lands that highlights some of the country’s most significant historical and cultural sites. (Also: pandas.) Speaking of nature, don’t be afraid to venture out of the cities, if time permits. For getting off the beaten path, Zhang recommends the mountainous province of Yunnan, while Heald mentions that travelers seeking spiritual experiences are going to Tibet (which requires another entry permit).

What else should Americans know before traveling to China?

It’s important to remember that the Great Firewall of China is very real: Websites like Google (including Gmail), YouTube, Facebook, and others are blocked in the country, Heald says, “especially if they touch on sensitive subjects.” She recommends downloading a VPN (virtual private network) to all of your devices before entering China, which allows you to freely use the Internet as usual. “If you do not wish to get a VPN, then plan accordingly and notify any concerned parties that you may be out of touch for a few days,” she says.

Still, China is changing at a rapid pace, Zhang notes. “Some of our recent travelers have described it as stepping into the future .” In the main cities, taxi cars are mostly electric. Sustainability is taking a leading role in development, and high-speed trains connect the entire country, with new rail lines opening regularly. Digital payments have swept every corner of the nation—“everybody from luxury stores to street food carts has a QR code”—and almost no one carries cash or credit cards. Zhang says, “For those who have visited China before, it has changed. And for those who have not visited before, you’re in for something wholly unexpected indeed.”

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Chinese Travel Is Set to Return. The Question Is, When?

The country has dropped restrictions on overseas journeys for its citizens, but once-popular destinations are still waiting for the flood of vacationers to arrive.

By Ceylan Yeginsu and Patrick Scott

When the first Chinese tourists landed at Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok this month, they were greeted like celebrities with welcome banners, flowers, gifts, and a scrum of reporters and photographers.

It was the moment that hotels, airlines, tour operators and government officials had long been waiting for — the reopening of China’s borders after nearly three years of pandemic restrictions that effectively cut the world off from Chinese travelers, once the largest source of global tourism revenue.

“It is very exciting to visit warm beautiful places again,” said Hua Liu, 34, a graphic designer from Shanghai, who was among the first visitors to Thailand, where she took a two-week beach vacation late this month, as part of a Lunar New Year trip. “I will make up for the lost time,” she said in a telephone interview. Her plan: “Stay at nice hotels, book spa treatments, eat at fine restaurants and buy nice gifts for myself and my family.”

Before the coronavirus pandemic paralyzed international travel in 2020, China sent more travelers overseas than any other market, with about 150 million Chinese tourists spending $277 billion abroad in 2018, according to a study by the United Nations World Tourism Organization and the China Tourism Academy. That outflow halted in 2020 and in the last year, even as countries around the world eased travel restrictions, China maintained an international travel ban for its citizens as part of its “zero Covid” policy.

But on Jan. 8, the Chinese government opened its borders, allowing foreign travelers to enter and Chinese residents to go overseas. Some in the travel industry were predicting a flood of international Chinese travelers after search interest for outbound flights from mainland China increased by 83 percent between Dec. 26 and Jan. 5, with international flight bookings up 59 percent in the same period, according to the Chinese online travel agency Ctrip .

But while there has been a bump in tourism to nearby destinations, including Macau, Hong Kong, Thailand and Singapore, farther-flung destinations are still waiting. In addition to high levels of Covid cases within China, Chinese travelers face long delays in getting passports and visas, high prices for international flights and a lack of capacity, since many carriers cut flights during China’s long lockdown. As of Friday, the number of airline seats available on direct flights from China to Britain in January was at about eight percent of those available in 2019, according to VisitBritain, the official tourist board. The first direct flight scheduled between China and Switzerland on Jan. 26 was canceled because of a lack of passengers.

Thailand gets ready

Before the pandemic, busloads of up to 700 Chinese tourists daily crowded into Maetaeng Elephant Park in the low-slung hills of northern Thailand, about an hour north of Chiang Mai.

Borprit Chailert, the park’s manager, is eagerly awaiting their return, but so far only about 40 Chinese vacationers have shown up, he said.

When they do arrive, renting elephants from nearby villagers to fortify his herd of 76 won’t be difficult, Mr. Chailert said. But it’s hard to know when to bring on more workers and where to find them, since many left the tourist region and switched jobs when tourism stopped, he said.

“If we want to hire 100 people today, we can’t do that because we’re not sure,” he said. “I don’t know, maybe in the next two months the Chinese government says, ‘We’re closing the border again.’”

With its economy heavily dependent on tourism, Thailand lost out on tens of billions of dollars in spending by Chinese tourists over the last three years. The Chiang Mai office of the Tourism Authority estimates that the city, known for its stunning Buddhist temples and heavy dependence on tourism, will welcome back about 600,000 Chinese visitors this year who will spend about $230 million — about half of the total from 2019.

The real numbers won’t start until the second quarter, people in the Thai travel sector say. Many Chinese tourists traditionally come to Thailand on group tours (they made up about half of the Chinese visitors in Chiang Mai), and the Chinese government is not letting tour operators restart their businesses until Feb. 6, and then only under a pilot program with about two dozen countries, including Thailand. For now, only independent Chinese tourists who can afford the expensive airfare are taking trips.

But not everyone is keen to welcome back group tours. Even before Covid, operators in Thailand and China saw a reversal of the group tour trend and a shift toward more tech-savvy Chinese travelers armed with booking and experience apps taking trips on their own.

Over the last decade, while the overall numbers of Chinese tourists rose, group tours dwindled amid a crackdown on cheap so-called zero-dollar tours in Phuket, the 40-mile long island on the Thai peninsula’s west coast. Often illegal operations dodging taxes, the tours typically were controlled by Chinese investors who owned buses, hotels, restaurants, spas and gift shops, siphoning off tourist spending from locals. They were known for pressuring guests to buy overpriced souvenirs at the shops they controlled.

“I don’t think that we will have more of the big tour groups,” said Nantida Atiset, a hotel owner in Phuket and the vice president of the Phuket Tourist Association. “I think they will come back, of course. It’s just a matter of how big they will come back.”

Pricey flights to London and Australia

In London, another popular destination for Chinese travelers, more than 300,000 people visited Chinatown last week for the first Lunar New Year parade since the coronavirus, but few Chinese tourists were present.

Feng Yang, the manager of Shanghai Family, a Chinese restaurant in central London, said that he didn’t expect any travelers from China during the Lunar New Year period, but was hopeful they would return in a few months. “They’re still affected by the coronavirus,” Mr. Yang said, adding that his business would most likely not suffer because about 85 percent of his customers are Chinese students from the surrounding universities, who aren’t going back to China for the holiday.

The slow growth can be blamed on a combination of factors. “There aren’t many flights, they will tend to be more expensive, and people will need a visa to come,” said Patricia Yates, the chief executive of VisitBritain, adding that the return of Chinese travelers to Britain would be a “slow build” this year with higher expectations in 2024. Round-trip flights to London from China are currently running at around $1,300 and Ms. Yates expects the number of seats on flights from China to Britain to grow to only 30 percent of 2019 capacity by June. “That is really necessary to get people on planes,” she said.

Before the pandemic, China was Australia’s biggest visitor market in terms of spending. The country received 1.4 million Chinese visitors in 2019 who spent $12.4 billion.

Chinese travelers have started to return to visit friends and family, but travel operators do not expect an influx of leisure travelers for several months, as flights are expensive and Australia is not on China’s approved list for group tour destinations. Australia also requires coronavirus testing for Chinese travelers. This month, round-trip flights between China and Australia range between $1,800 and $3,000. Before the pandemic, Chinese tourists were known for being willing to spend money, said James Shen, the owner of Odyssey Travel in Melbourne. “Chinese tourists are the ones who say, ‘I don’t want to take a boat, I want to take a helicopter,’” he said. “It might be a 10-minute journey, 400 Australian dollars — very expensive — but Chinese tourists will say, ‘I want to take this, not the boat, because maybe I’ll get seasick.’”

While many travel operators are eager for their return, some worry that the industry may not be able to keep up with a new influx of tourists.

“The industry disappeared for two years; it’ll be very hard for it to recover,” said Rick Liu, the owner of TanTan Holiday travel agency in Melbourne. Many drivers and tour guides found other work while the tourism industry was on pause, he added, and hiring them back may be difficult.

“I’m happy that we’ll have more tourists, but I’m also a bit worried about whether we’ll be able to accommodate them properly, provide them with high enough quality service,” he added. “We’re a bit out of practice.”

Yan Zhuang contributed reporting from Melbourne, Australia, and Derrick Bryson Taylor from London.

Follow New York Times Travel on Instagram , Twitter and Facebook . And sign up for our weekly Travel Dispatch newsletter to receive expert tips on traveling smarter and inspiration for your next vacation. Dreaming up a future getaway or just armchair traveling? Check out our 52 Places to Go in 2023 .

Ceylan Yeginsu is a travel reporter. She was previously a correspondent for the International desk in Britain and Turkey, covering politics; social justice; the migrant crisis; the Kurdish conflict, and the rise of Islamic State extremism in Syria and the region. More about Ceylan Yeginsu

China’s Tourists Can Travel Again. Here’s Why the World Is Still Waiting for the Rebound

N estled among the crumbling stupas of Laos’s ancient capital Luang Prabang, 525 Cocktails and Tapas was the city’s premier fine dining establishment, serving elevated local cuisine and perhaps Southeast Asia’s yummiest smoked negroni.

Foreign visitors comprised 95% of the restaurant’s footfall, and with tourist numbers to Laos breaking records year-on-year, plus a new high-speed train route due to link the landlocked nation with China’s city of Kunming to the north and Singapore to the south, business was looking up.

Then the pandemic struck. With borders sealed shut, 525’s British proprietor Andrew Sykes had no choice but to suspend operations, instead pivoting to local clientele by opening new premises in Laos’s modern capital, Vientiane. “The business is going very well,” says Sykes. “I will reopen in Luang Prabang but just not quite yet.”

Laos flung open its borders to visitors in May but the uptick in foreign arrivals has been torpid. Many in the hospitality industry hoped that would change following the opening of China’s borders on Jan. 8, given free-spending Chinese tourists comprised almost a quarter of the nation’s 4.7 million international visitors in 2019. Still, the results have been underwhelming.

“We’re starting to see Chinese customers come in, but it’s sub-10% of our business,” says Sykes. “It’s still predominantly Laos with some expats as well.”

Despite an indeterminate human toll , the sudden end of China’s zero-COVID policy is an undoubted boon for the global economy, liberating consumers and retailers of three years of supply chain disruptions wrought by arbitrarily shuttered ports and factories. The end of China’s pandemic travel restrictions is also a huge relief to the global hospitality industry. In 2019, Chinese travelers made 155 million trips overseas, spending $277 billion—a fifth of the global total outlay by international tourists.

But the experience of Laos, right on China’s southwestern frontier, shows that returning to the level of pre-pandemic travel will be a long, slow process.

Rebounding in Phases

The announcement on Dec. 26 that Chinese travelers could once again travel abroad naturally sparked optimism in a regional hospitality industry that has suffered greatly during the pandemic . Ctrip, China’s largest travel agency, reported that overseas bookings from Jan. 1 to Jan. 10 had increased by 313% year-on-year, with Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia among the most popular destinations.

Still, overall traveler numbers remain a fraction of pre-pandemic numbers. Firstly, the abrupt and chaotic end of zero-COVID meant that airlines and travel agencies had little time to scale up capacity before a rush of interest, meaning flights were limited as costs soared.

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“Lots of airports, airlines, travel partners let some of their staff go,” says Jane Sun, CEO of Ctrip parent Trip.com Group. “So now they need to recruit the staff back and re-train them. But we’re hoping during the second half of the year, everything will be back to normal.”

When China announced that it would reopen its borders from Jan. 8, the focus internally was on preparing Hong Kong and Macau—two destinations within the People’s Republic but that due to their “semi-autonomous” status still count as “outbound” travel on tourist figures.

The second phase, which began on Feb. 6, included only 20 countries to where Chinese travelers could book tours and “package” (flight plus hotel) vacations: most Southeast Asian nations—including Laos—plus the UAE, Egypt, Kenya, South Africa, Russia, New Zealand, Fiji, Cuba, and Argentina. In Europe, only Switzerland and Hungary made the cut, while North America was completely shunned.

In any case, the abruptness of the January reopening meant that few Chinese wanted to travel abroad for Lunar New Year—instead choosing to spend it with families that they had been cut off from for the holiday over the past three years. The period immediately following Lunar New Year has never traditionally been a popular travel time in China, and so there’s unlikely to be any huge rebound until the summer at the earliest.

“October and towards the back end of this year is when you’ll start to see the real upswing,” says Gary Bowerman, director of Check-in Asia, a tourism intelligence and strategic marketing firm. “And by that time, you would think that the Chinese travel industry will have found its feet and be able to manage demand.”

Changes in Capacity and Demand

As the world’s largest travel industry, it will take some time for China to get back up to full capacity. A positive factor is that China’s domestic tourism is huge and permitted tour operators to pivot inward rather than suspend operations completely, as was the case in smaller countries.

Still, it’s unlikely that tourism from China will return in exactly the same shape as before. Currently, there just aren’t many flights. Travel data firm OAG suggests that capacity to and from China will swell from about 1.5 million seats in December 2022 to more than 4 million in April 2023. The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAC) expects total air traffic for 2023 to reach 75% of pre-pandemic levels.

The CAC will soon post its new spring and summer flight schedules, which will show where demand is heading over the next few months. Every big airline is currently locked in negotiations, though China, as ever, will protect its own domestic carriers by handing them the pick of routes and timings.

In addition, political wrangling persists. China is the only country globally to reopen its borders in the midst of a huge COVID surge (in fact, its biggest on record). Some nations eager for tourism cash chose to backburner the public health implications. In Thailand, where 28% of all visitors in 2019 were from China, arrivals were welcomed by garlands and health kits handed out personally by a deputy prime minister.

However, many governments slapped new testing requirements or bans on Chinese arrivals, prompting Beijing to retaliate by suspending the issuance of short-term visas to their nationals, including from South Korea and Japan. Tourism flows will continue to be buffeted by such politically-charged pandemic headwinds.

The pandemic has also left its imprint on travel habits. Ctrip’s Sun says that today’s Chinese tourists are looking to book trips at short notice—mitigating possible pandemic disruption—but also travel in smaller groups, using more sustainable means, and in ways that they feel safe. “More and more customers really want to be very well protected when they’re traveling,” says Sun.

This is another reason why the U.S. might be last to feel the benefits of any rebound. As relations between Beijing and Washington spiral over myriad issues , anti-Asian hate crime and gun violence has been amplified on Chinese state media. Even before the pandemic, Trump-era trade tariffs and anti-China bombast contributed to just 2.9 million Chinese travelers visiting the U.S. in 2018, down from 3.2 million in 2017, according to U.S. National Travel and Tourism Office data. “Chinese tourists are incredibly risk averse,” says Bowerman. “They don’t want to be near anything that puts their own personal security in danger.”

Of course, given many Chinese study, work or have family in the U.S., a significant number will continue to shuttle across the Pacific. However, safety concerns and a high price point for American travel amid a slowing Chinese economy, plus onerous restrictions for Chinese nationals to get U.S. visas, means many will stay away. And they will be missed; in 2018, Chinese tourists in the U.S. each spent an average of $6,700 per trip—over 50% more than the typical traveler, according to industry body the U.S. Travel Association.

“The Chinese economy has been struggling so I think pricier destinations might find it a little bit more difficult,” says Bowerman. “Value will be a big factor over the next six to 12 months, for sure.”

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Write to Charlie Campbell / Singapore at [email protected]

Outlook for China tourism 2023: Light at the end of the tunnel

China is now removing travel restrictions rapidly, both domestically and internationally. While the sudden opening may lead to uncertainty and hesitancy to travel in the short term, Chinese tourists still express a strong desire to travel. And the recent removal of quarantine requirements in January 2023 could usher in a renewed demand for trips abroad.

Domestically, there are already signs of strong travel recovery. The recent Chinese New Year holidays saw 308 million domestic trips, generating almost RMB 376 billion in tourism revenue. 1 China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism. This upswing indicates that domestic travel volume has recovered to 90 percent of 2019 figures, and spending has bounced back to around 70 percent of pre-pandemic levels. 2 McKinsey analysis based on China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism data.

This article paints a picture of Chinese travelers and their evolving spending behaviors and preferences—and suggests measures that tourism service providers and destinations could take to prepare for their imminent return. The analyses draw on the findings of McKinsey’s latest Survey of Chinese Tourist Attitudes, and compare the results across six waves of surveys conducted between April 2020 and November 2022, along with consumer sentiment research and recent travel data.

From pandemic to endemic

By January 8, 2023, cross-city travel restrictions, border closures, and quarantine requirements on international arrivals to China had been lifted. 3 “Graphics: China’s 20 new measures for optimizing COVID-19 response,” CGTN, November 15, 2022; “COVID-19 response further optimized with 10 new measures,” China Services Info, December 8, 2022; “China reopens borders in final farewell to zero-COVID,” Reuters, January 8, 2023. This rapid removal of domestic travel restrictions, and an increase in COVID-19 infection rates, likely knocked travel confidence for cross-city and within-city trips. Right after the first easing of measures, in-city transport saw a marked drop as people stayed home—either because they were ill, or to avoid exposure. Subway traffic in ten major cities in mainland China fell and then spiked during Chinese New Year in February. Hotel room bookings also peaked at this time.

Domestic airline seat capacity experienced a minor rebound as each set of restrictions was lifted—suggesting a rise in demand as airlines scheduled more flights. Domestic capacity fluctuated, possibly due to the accelerated COVID-19 infection rate and a temporary labor shortage. International seat capacity, however, continued to climb (Exhibit 1).

By Chinese new year, China was past its infection peak—and domestic tourism recovered strongly. For instance, Hainan drew 6.4 million visitors over Chinese New Year (up from 5.8 million in 2019) and visits to Shanghai reached 10 million (roughly double 2019 holiday figures). 4 China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Overall, revenue per available room (RevPAR) during this period recovered and surpassed pre-pandemic levels, at 120 percent of 2019 figures. 5 STR data. Outbound trips are still limited, but given the pent-up demand for international travel (and the upswing in domestic tourism) the tourism industry may need to prepare to welcome back Chinese tourists.

Tourism players should be ready for this; the time to act is now.

A demand boom is around the corner—Chinese tourists are returning soon

Before the pandemic, Chinese tourists were eager travelers. Mainland China had the largest outbound travel market in the world, both in number of trips and total spend. 6 World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Tourism dashboard, Outbound tourism ranking. In 2019, Mainland Chinese tourists took 155 million outbound trips, totaling $255 billion in travel spending. 7 China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism. These figures indicate total outbound trips, including to Hong Kong and Macau. China is also an important source market for some major destinations. For instance, Chinese travelers made up 28 percent of inbound tourism in Thailand, 30 percent in Japan, and 16 percent of non-EU visitors to Germany. 8 United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) database.

Leisure travel was the biggest driver of China’s outbound travel, representing 65 percent of travelers in 2019. In the same year, 29 percent of travelers ventured out for business, and 6 percent journeyed to visit friends and relatives. 9 Euromonitor International database.

Our most recent Survey of Chinese Tourist Attitudes, conducted in November 2022, shows that Chinese tourists have retained their keen desire to explore international destinations. About 40 percent of respondents reported that they expect to undertake outbound travel for their next leisure trip.

Where do these travelers want to go?

The results also indicate that the top three overseas travel destinations (beyond Hong Kong and Macau) are Australia/New Zealand, Southeast Asia, and Japan. Overall, respondents show less interest in travel to Europe than in previous years, down from 7 percent to 4 percent compared to wave 5 respondents. Desire to embark on long-haul international trips to Australia/New Zealand increased from 5 percent to 7 percent, and North American trips from 3 percent to 4 percent since the last survey. The wealthier segment (monthly household income over RMB 38,000) still shows a high interest in EU destinations (13 percent).

There are stumbling blocks on the road to recovery

While travel sentiment is strong, other factors may deter travelers from taking to the skies: fear of COVID-19; the need for COVID-19 testing which can be expensive; ticket prices; risk appetite of destination countries; and getting a passport or visa.

Chinese travelers may favor domestic trips, even if all outbound travel restrictions are removed, until they feel it is safe to travel internationally. A COVID-19-safe environment in destination countries will likely boost travelers’ confidence and encourage them to book trips again. 10 “Long-haul travel barometer,” European Travel Commission, February 1, 2023.

Travel recovery is also dependent on airline capacity. Some international airlines might be slow to restore capacity as fleets were retired during COVID-19 and airlines face a shortage of crew, particularly pilots. Considering that at the time of writing, in April 2023, international airline seat capacity has only recovered to around 37 percent of pre-pandemic levels, travelers are likely to face elevated ticket prices in the coming months. For instance, ticket prices for travel in the upcoming holidays to popular overseas destinations such as Japan and Thailand are double what they were in 2019. 11 Based on Ctrip prices. Price-sensitive travelers might wait for ticket prices to level out before booking their overseas trips.

Chinese airlines, however, appear more ready to resume full service than their international counterparts —fewer pilots left the industry and aircraft are available. Chinese carriers’ widebody fleets are mostly in service or ready to be redeployed (Exhibit 2).

Moving forward, safety measures in destination countries will affect travel recovery. Most countries have dropped testing requirements on arrivals from mainland China, and Chinese outbound group travel has resumed but is still limited to selected countries.

Many Chinese travelers—maybe 20 percent—have had passports expire during the COVID-19 period, and China has not been renewing these passports. Renewals are now possible, but the backlog will slow travel’s rebound by a few months. 12 Steve Saxon, “ What to expect from China’s travel rebound ,” McKinsey, January 25, 2023. Furthermore, travel visas for destination countries can take some time to be processed and issued.

Taken together, these factors suggest that the returning wave of Chinese travelers may only gather momentum by the Summer of 2023 and that China’s travel recovery will likely lag Hong Kong’s by a few months.

Overall, China is opening up to travel, both inbound and outbound—all types of visas are being issued to foreign visitors, and locals are getting ready to travel abroad. 13 “China to resume issuing all types of visas for foreigners,” China Briefing, March 14, 2023.

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The returning chinese traveler is evolving.

Although Chinese travelers did not have opportunities to travel internationally over the past three years, they continued to travel domestically and explore new offerings. Annual domestic trips remained at around 50 percent of pre-pandemic levels, amounting to 8.7 billion domestic trips over the past three years. 14 China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism. During this time, the domestic market matured, and travelers became more sophisticated as they tried new leisure experiences such as beach resorts, skiing trips, and “staycations” in home cities. Chinese travelers became more experienced as thanks to periods of low COVID-19 infection rates domestically they explored China’s vast geography and diverse experiences on offer.

Consequently, the post-COVID-19 Chinese traveler is even more digitally savvy, has high expectations, and seeks novel experiences. These are some of the characteristics of a typical traveler:

• Experience-oriented: Wave 6 of the survey shows that the rebound tourist is planning their trip around experiences. Outdoor and scenic trips remain the most popular travel theme. In survey waves 1 to 3, sightseeing and “foodie” experiences were high on the list of preferences while traveling. From waves 4 to 6, culture and history, beaches and resorts, and health and wellness gained more attention—solidifying the trend for experience-driven travel. Additionally, possibly due to the hype of the Winter Olympics, skiing and snowboarding have become popular activities.
• Hyper-digitized: While digitization is a global trend, Chinese consumers are some of the most digitally savvy in the world; mobile technologies and social media are at the core of daily life. COVID-19 drove people to spend more time online—now short-form videos and livestreaming have become the top online entertainment options in China. In the first half of 2022, Chinese consumers spent 30 percent of their mobile internet time engaging with short videos. 15 “In the first half of the year, the number of mobile netizens increased, and short videos accounted for nearly 30% of the total time spent online,” Chinadaily.com, 27 July 2022.
• Exploration enthusiasts: Chinese travelers are also keen to explore the world and embark on novel experiences in unfamiliar destinations. Survey respondents were looking forward to visiting new attractions, even when travel policies limited their travel radius. Instead of revisiting destinations, 45 percent of respondents picked short trips to new sites as their number one choice, followed by long trips to new sites as their second choice.

Consumers are optimistic, and travel spending remains resilient

McKinsey’s 2022 research on Chinese consumer sentiment shows that although economic optimism is seeing a global decline, 49 percent of Chinese respondents reported that they are optimistic about their country’s economic recovery. Optimism had dropped by 6 percentage points since an earlier iteration of the survey, but Chinese consumers continue to be more optimistic than other surveyed countries, apart from India (80 percent optimistic) and Indonesia (73 percent optimistic) (Exhibit 3). 16 “ Survey: Chinese consumer sentiment during the coronavirus crisis ,” McKinsey, October 13, 2022.

Chinese consumers are still keen to spend on travel, and travel spending is expected to be resilient. Wave 6 of the tourist attitude survey saw 87 percent of respondents claiming that they will spend more or maintain their level of travel spending. Moreover, when consumers were asked “which categories do you intend to splurge/treat yourself to,” travel ranked second, with 29 percent of respondents preferring travel over other categories. 17 “ Survey: Chinese consumer sentiment during the coronavirus crisis ,” McKinsey, October 13, 2022.

Against this context of consumer optimism, the wave 6 tourist attitude survey results shed light on how travelers plan to spend, and which segments are likely to spend more than others:

• The wealthier segment and older age groups (age 45-65) show the most resilience in terms of travel spend. Around 45 to 50 percent of travelers in these two groups will spend more on their next leisure trip.
• The wealthier segment has shown the most interest in beach and resort trips (48 percent). Instead of celebrating Chinese New Year at home with family, 30 percent of Chinese travelers in the senior age group (age 55-65) expect to take their next leisure trip during this holiday—10 percent more than the total average. And the top three trip preferences for senior travelers are culture, sightseeing, and health-themed trips.
• When it comes to where travelers plan to spend their money on their next trip, entertainment activities, food, and shopping are the most popular categories. These are also the most flexible and variable spending categories, and there are opportunities to up-sell—attractions, food and beverage, and retail players are well positioned to create unique and unexpected offerings to stimulate spending in this area (Exhibit 4).

Independent accommodation is gaining popularity

Overall, Chinese consumers have high expectations for products and services. McKinsey’s 2023 consumer report found that local brands are on the rise and consumers are choosing local products for their quality, not just for their cheaper prices. Chinese consumers are becoming savvier, and tap into online resources and social media to educate themselves about the specific details and features of product offerings. 18 Daniel Zipser, Daniel Hui, Jia Zhou, and Cherie Zhang, 2023 McKinsey China Consumer Report , McKinsey, December 2022.

Furthermore, 49 percent of Chinese consumers believe that domestic brands are of “better quality” than foreign brands—only 23 percent believe the converse is true. Functionality extended its lead as the most important criterion influencing Chinese consumers, indicating that consumers are focusing more on the functional aspects of products, and less on emotional factors. Branding thus has less influence on purchasing decisions. 19 Daniel Zipser, Daniel Hui, Jia Zhou, and Cherie Zhang, 2023 McKinsey China Consumer Report , McKinsey, December 2022.

These broader consumer sentiments are echoed in the travel sector. Chinese travelers pay attention to cost, but do not simply seek out the lowest prices. While 17 percent of wave 6 respondents are concerned about low prices, 33 percent are on the hunt for value-for-money offerings, and 30 percent prefer good discounts and worthwhile deals.

And consumer sentiment regarding local brands holds true for travel preferences. Independent travel accommodation continues to be the preferred choice for most respondents, increasing in share against international chain brand hotels (Exhibit 5). Almost 60 percent of respondents prefer independent accommodation such as boutique hotels, B&Bs, and Airbnb—an 8 percentage-point increase since 2020.

Local chain brand hotels remain stable, the favored accommodation for 20 percent of respondents. These hotels are seen as a more standardized option, and as most are located in urban areas, they target the budget traveler segment.

Opting for independent accommodation is not considered a trade down; Chinese travelers expect a high level of service. In particular, respondents in the wealthier segment picked independent options (57 percent) over international premium brands (27 percent).

Premium independent options for the wealthier segment are abundant, specifically in leisure travel. Setting up a premium brand hotel requires long-term construction periods and heavy capital investment. Small-scale boutique hotels or B&Bs, on the other hand, are more agile solutions that can ramp up in the short term. This may explain the abundance of premium independent offerings. For instance, in destinations such as Lijiang and Yangshuo, between seven and nine of the top-ten premium hotels listed on Ctrip are independent boutique hotels.

Premium independent accommodation’s strength lies in quality guest experience with a genuine human touch. The service level at premium independent establishments can even surpass that of chain brand accommodation thanks to the high staff-to-room ratio, which easily reaches 3:1 or even 5:1. 20 “Strategic marketing analysis of boutique hotels,” Travel Daily , June 3, 2015. For hotels in Xiamen, Lijiang, and Yangshou, Ctrip service ratings of premium independent hotels are all above 4.7, outperforming international chain brand hotels.

Travelers are becoming smarter and more realistic during hotel selection, focusing on fundamental offerings such as local features and value for money. Across all types of hotels, local features are one of the most important factors influencing hotel selection—even for chain brand hotels which have a reputation for mastering the standardized offering. On average, 34 percent of respondents report that local features and cultural elements are the key considerations affecting their choice of hotel.

Outbound Chinese tourists are evolving rapidly, becoming increasingly diverse in their travel preferences, behaviors, and spending patterns. Chinese travelers are not homogeneous, and their needs and preferences continue to evolve. Therefore, serving each group of tourists may require different product offerings, sales channels, or marketing techniques.

The path toward eco-friendly travel in China

How international travel and tourism can attract outbound chinese travelers.

China’s lifting of travel restrictions may cause some uncertainty in the short term, but a promising recovery lies ahead. Chinese tourists have maintained a strong desire to travel internationally and are willing to pay for this experience. They are also discerning and looking for high-quality accommodation, offerings, and service. As boutique hotels are becoming more popular, international hotel brands hotels could, for example, aim to stand out by leveraging their experience in service excellence.

With renewed travel demand, now may be the time for international travel and tourism businesses to invest in polishing product offerings—on an infrastructural and service level. Tourism, food and beverage, retail, and entertainment providers can start preparing for the rebound by providing unique and innovative experiences that entice the adventurous Chinese traveler.

Craft an authentically local offering that appeals to experience-driven Chinese travelers

Chinese travelers have suspended overseas trips for three years, and are now looking to enjoy high-quality experiences in destinations they have been to before. They also want to do more than shopping and sightseeing, and have expressed willingness to spend on offerings geared towards entertainment and experience. This includes activities like theme parks, snow sports, water sports, shows, and cultural activities. Authentic experiences can satisfy their desire for an immersive foreign experience, but they often want the experience to be familiar and accessible.

Designing the right product means tapping into deep customer insights to craft offerings that are accessible for Chinese travelers, within a comfortable and familiar setting, yet are still authentic and exciting.

Travel and tourism providers may also have opportunities to up-sell or cross-sell experiences and entertainment offerings.

Social media is essential

Social media is emerging as one of the most important sources of inspiration for travel. Short video now is a major influence channel across all age groups and types of consumers.

Tourist destinations have begun to leverage social media, and short video campaigns, to maximize exposure. For example, Tourism Australia recently launched a video campaign with a kangaroo character on TikTok, and overall views soon reached around 1.67 billion.

The story of Ding Zhen, a young herder from a village in Sichuan province, illustrates the power of online video in China. In 2020, a seven-second video of Ding Zhen turned him into an overnight media sensation. Soon after, he was approached to become a tourism ambassador for Litang county in Sichuan—and local tourism flourished. 21 “Tibetan herder goes viral, draws attention to his hometown in SW China,” Xinhuanet, December 11, 2020. Another Sichuan local, the director of the Culture and Tourism Bureau in Ganzi, has drawn visitors to the region through his popular cosplay videos that generated 7 million reviews. Building on the strength of these influential celebrities, visitor numbers to the region were said to reach 35 million, more than two-and-a-half times 2016 volumes. 22 “Local official promoting Sichuan tourism goes viral on internet,” China Daily, June 17, 2022; “The Director of Culture and Tourism disguises himself as a “Swordsman” knight to promote Ganzi tourism,” Travel Daily , June 17, 2022.

Online travel companies are also using social media to reach consumers. Early in the pandemic, Trip.com took advantage of the upward trend in livestreaming. The company’s co-founder and chairman of the board, James Liang, hosted weekly livestreams where he dressed up in costume or chatted to guests at various destinations. Between March and October 2020, Liang’s livestreams sold around $294 million’s worth of travel packages and hotel room reservations. 23 “Travel companies adapt to a livestreaming trend that may outlast the pandemic,” Skift, October 26, 2020.

Livestreaming is being used by tourism boards, too. For instance, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) collaborated with Trip.com to launch a new campaign to attract Chinese tourists to Thailand as cross-border travel resumed. The broadcast, joined by TAT Governor Mr Yuthasak Supasorn, recorded sales of more than 20,000 room nights amounting to a gross merchandise value of over RMB 40 million. 24 “Trip.com Group sees border reopening surge in travel bookings boosted by Lunar New Year demand,” Trip.com, January 13, 2023.

International tourism providers looking to engage Chinese travelers should keep an eye on social media channels and fully leverage key opinion leaders.

Scale with the right channel partners

Travel distribution in China has evolved into a complex, fragmented, and Chinese-dominated ecosystem, making scaling an increasingly difficult task. Travel companies need to understand the key characteristics of each channel type, including online travel agencies (OTAs), online travel portals (OTPs), and traditional travel agencies as each target different customer segments, and offer different levels of control to brands. It also takes different sets of capabilities to manage each type of distribution channel.

Travel companies can prioritize the channels they wish to use and set clear roles for each. One challenge when choosing the right channel partner is to avoid ultra-low prices that may encourage volume, but could ultimately damage a brand.

Meanwhile, given the evolution of the postCOVID-19 industry landscape and rapid shifts in consumer demand, travel companies should consider direct-to-consumer (D2C) channels. The first step would be selecting the appropriate D2C positioning and strategy, according to the company’s needs. In China, D2C is a complicated market involving both public domains (such as social media and OTA platforms) and private domains (such as official brand platforms). To make the most of D2C, travel companies need a clear value proposition for their D2C strategy, whether it be focused on branding or on commercial/sales.

Create a seamless travel experience for the digitally savvy Chinese tourist

China has one of the most digitally advanced lifestyles on the planet. Chinese travelers are mobile-driven, wallet-less, and impatient—and frequently feel “digitally homesick” while abroad. Overseas destinations and tourism service providers could “spoil” tech-savvy Chinese travelers with digitally enhanced service.

China’s internet giants can provide a shortcut to getting digital services off the ground. Rather than building digital capabilities from scratch, foreign tourism providers could engage Chinese travelers through a platform that is already being used daily. For example, Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport provides a WeChat Mini Program with four modules: duty-free shopping, flight inquiry, information transfer, and travel planning. This contains information about all aspects of the airport, including ground transportation and tax refund procedures.

Alibaba’s Alipay, a third-party mobile and online payment platform, is also innovating in this space. The service provider has cooperated with various tax refund agencies, such as Global Blue, to enable a seamless digitized tax refund experience. Travelers scan completed tax refund forms at automated kiosks in the airport, and within a few hours, the refunded amount is transferred directly to their Alipay accounts. 25 “Alipay and Global Blue to make tax refunds easy for Chinese tourists,” Alizila, June 23, 2014.

Such digital applications are likely to be the norm going forward, not a differentiator, so travel companies that do not invest in this area may be left behind.

Chinese travelers are on the cusp of returning in full force, and tourism providers can start preparing now

With China’s quarantine requirements falling away at the start of 2023, travelers are planning trips, renewing passports and visas, and readying themselves for a comeback. Chinese tourists have not lost their appetite for travel, and a boom in travel demand can be expected soon. Though airlines are slow to restore capacity, and some destination countries are more risk averse when welcoming Chinese travelers, there are still options for Chinese tourists to explore destinations abroad.

Tourism providers can expect to welcome travelers with diverse interests who are willing to spend money on travel, who are seeking out exciting experiences, and who are choosing high-quality products and services. The returning Chinese traveler is digitally savvy and favors functionality over branding—trends suggest that providers who can craft authentic, seamless, and unique offerings could be well positioned to capture this market.

Guang Chen and Jackey Yu are partners in McKinsey’s Hong Kong office, Zi Chen is a capabilities and insights specialist in the Shanghai office, and Steve Saxon is a partner in the Shenzhen office.

The authors wish to thank Cherie Zhang, Glenn Leibowitz, Na Lei, and Monique Wu for their contributions to this article.

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How china’s approved destination status policy spurs and hinders chinese travel abroad.

Chinese tourists can be a real contributor to the global economy and world peace. China needs the world, and the world needs China. —Zhang Guangrui, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences 1

By the end of this decade, the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) forecasts that the People’s Republic of China (hereafter referred to as China) will be sending 100 million tourists abroad each year. 2 By then, China is expected to be the world’s largest tourist-generating country.

How is that possible? Before 1978, China was pretty much closed to the outside world. Few Chinese citizens were allowed to travel to other countries. Those who did were either businessmen, government officials, or students. Taking a pleasure trip abroad was unthinkable unless it was disguised as a legitimate trip. All that began to change in the 1990s when China adopted a unique tourism policy. China’s Approved Destination Status (ADS) Policy allows overseas pleasure travel by its citizens in tightly controlled groups and only to countries (and territories) approved by the government. Tourist destinations around the world hailed this move. Imagine the world’s most populous country of more than 1.3 billion people spreading its growing wealth around the globe! Lost in the euphoria was the policy’s big limitation: Chinese citizens were not able to go where and how they wanted. In this article, we examine China’s ADS policy.

China’s policy on outbound tourism is an important topic to study be­cause international tourism has become an economic and social force of global significance. Tourism, if developed in a sustainable way, can be a positive agent of economic and social change and a potential weapon in the fight to alleviate global poverty. China is the world’s most populous country and its second-largest economy; its policies now have the poten­tial to generate big, rippling economic and social impacts throughout the world. Tourism can also promote better international understanding and global peace.

Our article can be used in economics, geography, political science, an­thropology, and sociology courses to introduce students to the importance of international tourism, as well as ongoing issues involving China’s eco­nomic development. In college and high school AP economics classes, stu­dents would learn about issues surrounding the liberalization of international trade in services. Tourism is a particularly good example, as it is the largest item in international service trade. In the high school AP human geography class, students might want to follow up on our analysis by exploring the tourist attractions of various countries around the world and why some countries might be more attractive to Chinese tourists than other countries. For example, students could study the rules and regulations governing the se­lection of World Heritage Sites (what they are and how they get on the list, etc.). Students in anthropology and sociology classes might be encouraged to assess the sociocultural impacts of mass tourism on tourist receiving and sending countries. Students in political science classes may want to follow up on how tourism is used as political leverage in international relations. The sudden drop in the number of Chinese tourists visiting Okinawa, Japan, in fall 2012 as a result of the Japan-China dispute over the Senkaku Islands would be a natural follow-up. 3 China’s ADS policy and the big surge in Chi­nese tourism are clearly interdisciplinary topics, and they may be best suited for interdisciplinary courses, such as Asian studies or global studies, partic­ularly because these courses are less bound than disciplinary courses by spe­cific, fact-based, state instructional standards.

For most people, tourism means travel for personal pleasure. That is not how the UNWTO defines it. Tourism is travel away from one’s usual place of residence for less than a year for reasons other than emigration or em­ployment. In 2010, 51 percent of globe-trotting tourists were traveling for fun, and another 15 percent were traveling on business and professional trips. Visiting friends and relatives, travel for one’s health, religious pil­grimages, and “other” made up the rest.

International tourist arrivals have grown to impressive levels and now have a tremendous impact on the global economy. Statistics published by the World Tourism Organization show that international tourist arrivals worldwide reached 983 million in 2011, compared to 25 million in 1950, and have more than doubled over the past twenty years. International tourists spent an equivalent of over US $1 trillion dollars in 2011, exclud­ing passenger transportation costs, compared to just US $2 billion in 1950.

Immediately after World War II, tourism development was not a high priority among Asian countries. What they wanted was to maximize eco­nomic growth by emphasizing the production and export of manufactured goods. Tourism’s role was to bring in foreign exchange (currency) to help pay the costs of industrialization. This meant bringing foreign tourists in but not allowing their own citizens out (travel bans). Countries also im­posed limits on how much foreign currency a traveler could obtain (cur­rency restrictions), which effectively limited how much money a traveler could spend on foreign travel.

Japan, which was rebuilding its economy in the two decades after the end of World War II, did not allow its citizens to travel abroad on pleasure trips until 1964, after the conclusion of the Tokyo Olympic Games. After the travel ban was lifted, Japan continued to impose currency restrictions on Japanese travelers, which remained in place until the late 1970s. South Korea did not fully lift its ban on outbound pleasure travel until 1989, after the conclusion of the 1988 Olympic Games in Korea. When both coun­tries finally lifted their travel restrictions, Japanese and South Koreans took to foreign travel with great enthusiasm. Since the 1970s, tourism has grown much faster in the Asia-Pacific region than in other regions of the world. The lifting of travel bans, especially in Japan, was one of the reasons why tourism grew so rapidly in the region. 4

Compared to its Asian neighbors, China is a latecomer to international tourism. During the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976), China was an in­ward-looking country in economic and cultural turmoil. With the 1976 death of Mao Zedong, the founder of the People’s Republic of China, and the subsequent end of the Cultural Revolution, China adopted the Four Modernizations Policies, one of which emphasized the opening of foreign trade. As in other areas of economic policy reform, China’s entry into in­ternational tourism was gradual. Initially, China permitted inbound tourism only, followed by inbound and domestic tourism and finally out­bound tourism. 5

China experimented with outbound tourism in the early 1980s when citizens from Guangdong Province were allowed to travel to nearby Hong Kong and Macau in organized tours to visit relatives. Residents from other provinces were later permitted to join as long as they had relatives or friends in Hong Kong and Macau. Beginning in 1990, Chinese citizens were also allowed to travel to Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand for fam­ily visits. The catch was that travel expenses to all five destinations had to be paid by the hosts to prevent the outflow of scarce foreign currency. Eventually, travelers were allowed to pay their own expenses, paving the way for more people to travel abroad.

In 1995, China’s government formalized the ADS system under which Chinese citizens could travel in organized group tours to countries the gov­ernment had approved. ADS is achieved by bilateral negotiation. 6 Unlike Japan and South Korea, which placed no restrictions on where their citi­zens could visit after their travel bans were lifted, China’s unique outbound tourism policy is selective. It is both liberalizing and restricting. Only selected, government-approved travel agencies in China can sell overseas travel packages to ADS countries. In turn, approved countries must issue a special ADS visa. Chinese tourists can apply for ADS visas as a group as part of their tour packages. In sum, China’s ADS policy enables an in­creasingly affluent Chinese population to travel abroad at relatively low cost and with few hassles, though not necessarily to the countries of their first choice.

ADs Policy: Purpose

Why did the Chinese government decide to adopt such an unusual policy that eases and yet still restricts travel to its own citizens? 7 The easing com­ponent is not so difficult to understand. China has been undergoing dra­matic changes. Since 1978, the economy has transitioned from a centrally planned economic system to one that is more market-oriented. In De­cember 2001, China became a member of the World Trade Organization after opening and liberalizing its economy during the 1990s. Since then, the economy has been growing at a breakneck pace of nearly 10 percent each year. As a result, GDP per capita today is now more than six times what it was twenty years ago. 8 The average annual income per capita in China is still very low (US $5,445 in 2011), but this masks a huge discrepancy in in­come between those who live in the cities and those who live in the coun­tryside. China’s spectacular economic growth has created a vast urban middle class with a strong appetite for leisure travel. 9

The government responded to this growing demand by implement­ing shorter workweeks and more holidays. The five-day workweek became the norm in 1995. In 1999, the government introduced three golden weeks, with each week comprised of seven days of national holidays. 10 The specific goal was to encourage domestic travel. Over time, China’s government also made passports easier to get, raised the limit (several times) on the amount of foreign currency travelers were allowed to purchase, and permitted more travel agencies to get into the outbound travel business. The boom in for­eign travel was underway.

Still, the Chinese government did not want to loosen its grip over travel too quickly. The government still wanted to minimize the outflow of for­eign currency. 11 However, huge increases in China’s foreign currency re­serves from 2003 and improvements in China’s international trading position have essentially eliminated this objective as a goal of Chinese travel policy. ADS was also seen as a way for both governments to control Chi­nese citizens’ movements overseas. Among receiving countries, there has always been a concern that Chinese tourists might overstay the number of days allowed on their visas and create an immigration problem. China, too, has been wary of illegal Chinese immigration to ADS countries. 12 The 1999 ADS agreement between China and Australia illustrates how ADS agree­ments can allay those concerns.

The Australia-China ADS agreement imposed stringent controls on the issuance of passports and exit visas by China and tight controls on entry visas by Australia. 13 On the Chinese side, only “authorized travel agencies” approved by the Chinese National Tourism Administration could sell over­seas tour packages to Australia. Chinese guides must lead tours. A tour leader who has had too many overstayers can be suspended or banned from escorting future tours to Australia.

On the Australian side, the government of Australia agreed to accept group visa applications only from China’s authorized travel agencies. ADS visas were valid only for the duration of the group tour, with no possibil­ity of extension or status change once the group arrived in Australia.

In addition to government rules, Chinese travel agencies also devel­oped their own controls to discourage overstays. Though not required by either government, Chinese travel agencies unilaterally required sizable cash bonds from Australia-bound tourists to be refunded upon return to China. 14 Tour guides also kept the passports and tickets of tour members. The combination of formal and informal controls resulted in relatively few visa violations. In 2009–2010, the non return rate among Chinese tourists visiting Australia on ADS visas was 0.12 percent, compared to 1.35 per­cent for all foreign visitors. 15 Most importantly, Chinese tourists now con­stitute Australia’s most valuable source of spending by international visitors. For both countries, ADS has been a success story.

Which Countries Got ADs

Table 1 provides a list of countries/destinations that have negotiated and implemented ADS agreements with China. Between 1983 and 1993, the list included only seven countries/destinations, all of them in Asia. After 1994, the list of ADS countries expanded rapidly. Currently, more than 110 countries have implemented ADS agreements with China.

ADS designations were not handed out randomly. For China, negoti­ating ADS agreements with its neighbors was important because of its potentially positive impact on its relations with them. Shorter distances to nearby countries also meant less expensive vacations for Chinese travelers.

There are also indications of clustering of awards by region. For ex­ample, a group of European countries, including the members of the EU, obtained ADS around 2004. Many South American and Caribbean countries were granted ADS be­tween 2005 and 2009. Grouping of countries reduced negotiation costs. It also allowed Chinese trav­elers to visit several countries in a particular region on a single trip, and thereby both saving money and having a variety of experiences.

Still, it is not obvious why and when some countries successfully negotiated agreements and others did not. We offer one possible ex­planation. Since the Chinese gov­ernment regards granting ADS to a country as a concession favoring the grantee country, China may have been using ADS as soft power to gain political concessions from potential grantee countries when it served its national interest. For example, it was reported that China granted ADS to the South Pacific island nation of Fiji in return for not recognizing Taiwan diplomatically. 16 Indeed, among the twenty-three countries that currently recognize Taiwan, not one has been granted ADS by China. Despite its penalization of countries recognizing Taiwan, China granted ADS to Taiwan in 2008. 17

More evidence exists that China employs ADS both as a carrot and a stick to gain political advantage. The evidence consists of the voting records of United Nations members on eighteen votes during the fifty-eighth session of the 2003 United Nations General Assembly. 18 Most of the votes were on global security issues. Analysis of these voting records indicates that countries that voted more frequently in agreement with China were more likely to have received ADS.

Impact of ADs on Chinese outbound Travel

Figure 1 displays the total number of ADS countries by year of award and annual Chinese departures abroad between 1994 and 2011. During the first ten years of the ADS program, the number of Chinese traveling abroad grew at an average rate of 22 percent per year. The comparable rate of increase for Japan during the first ten years after the lifting of its travel ban was 40 percent per year. Between 1994 and 2011, Chinese out­bound travel grew at a slower rate of 20 percent per year on average, com­pared to Japan’s 29 percent over a comparable period. It would be tempting—but probably unwise—to conclude that China’s growth was slower than Japan’s because it had adopted a selective and drawn-out ap­proach to travel liberalization. For one thing, China began its liberaliza­tion process with a larger number of outbound tourists than Japan: 4.5 million for China in 1995 versus 128,000 for Japan in 1964. In any case, what matters more to tourist destinations are the actual numbers of tourists and how much the typical tourist spends. The gap between the numbers for Japan and China is striking. In 1980—sixteen years after Japan lifted its ban on overseas pleasure travel—3.9 million Japanese trav­eled abroad. By comparison, the China Tourism Academy reports that 70 million Chinese traveled abroad in 2011, sixteen years after ADS was formally adopted. 19

How did ADS affect individual countries that received ADS? For the answer, we can compare Chinese tourist arrivals in individual ADS coun­tries before and after receiving ADS. A recent study of outbound Chinese travel used Chinese tourist arrival data from seventeen ADS recipient countries that received ADS between 1998 and 2003. It compared each country’s average annual growth rates three years before and three years after receiving ADS designation. 20 The study found the following results. First, there were big differences in the growth rates of Chinese tourist ar­rivals in these ADS recipient countries both before and after they received ADS. In other words, some destinations were simply more attractive to Chinese tourists than others. For some countries, being awarded ADS is not a guarantee of a flood of incoming Chinese tourists. Second, in most of these countries (fourteen), growth rates of Chinese visitor arrivals post-ADS exceeded the growth rates pre-ADS. 21 Third, only five of these coun­tries had pre-ADS growth rates of Chinese tourist arrivals that exceeded the growth rates of overall Chinese outbound travel over the same years, com­pared to eleven post-ADS. Overall, ADS appears to have spurred Chinese travel to ADS countries.

Two separate studies also employed statistical techniques that helped identify the potential influences of other factors besides ADS that might have affected Chinese travel to these ADS recipient countries. 22 Both studies con­firmed the positive impact of ADS on Chinese visitor arrivals. Both also found that the designation of a new ADS country diverted Chinese tourists from non-ADS and previously designated ADS countries to the new ADS country. That should not be a big surprise. Which countries got ADS reflected the preferences of the Chinese government and not necessarily the prefer­ences of the Chinese consumers. As more countries were approved, Chinese consumers could change their minds and visit the countries they preferred.

ADS is a preferential travel liberalization system. While it has spurred Chi­nese travel abroad, it has also restricted opportunities for Chinese con­sumers to travel to destinations they might otherwise have preferred. As more countries conclude ADS agreements with China, the value to the Chinese government of having a preferential policy diminishes. Even the Chinese recognize this. 23 In the meantime, with more than 110 countries and territories that have already implemented ADS, including the most popular destinations, Chinese citizens currently have a tremendous num­ber of destination choices. Since 2003, mainland Chinese have been al­lowed to travel to Hong Kong and Macau on an individual basis. Perhaps a change from group to individual travel will be the next phase of outbound travel policy reform in China.

In 2009, the number of Chinese who traveled abroad, as a percentage of the nation’s population, was just 3.5 percent. The World Tourism Or­ganization estimates that the global average was 11.5 percent in 2000. With the Chinese only beginning to travel internationally, we have a clear con­clusion: A lot more Chinese are coming!

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1. Mark Magnier, “Chinese Tourists Export a Mix of Cash and Brash,” Los Angeles Times , June 26, 2006, accessed July 30, 2012, http:// tiny.cc/d6dvuw.

2. This forecast includes travel to Hong Kong and Macau.

3. Chester Dawson, “Japan’s Spat With China Takes Big Toll on Tourism,” The Wall Street Journal (WSJ.com), November 27, 2012, accessed December 2, 2012, http://tiny.cc/dxdvuw.

4. James Mak and Kenneth White, “Comparative Tourism Development in Asia and the Pacific,” Journal of Travel Research, 31, no. 1 (1992): 14–23.

5. Guangrui Zhang, China’s Outbound Tourism: An Overview, WTM-Contact Confer­ence (Beijing: Tourism Research Center, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, 2006).

6. ADS agreements differ in some of their provisions. Although one of the main ad­vantages of ADS is the reduced cost of group visa processing, the 2007 Memorandum of Understanding between China and the US allowed the US to require one-to-one, in-person visa interviews at US consulates in China.

7. US citizens wishing to visit Cuba must obtain a special license; see James Mak, Tourism and the Economy: Understanding the Economics of Tourism (Honolulu: Uni­versity of Hawai`i Press, 2004). The US began to allow travel to Cuba by Cuban-Americans in 2009 and by some students and missionaries in 2011. Despite US State Department travel warnings about potentially unsafe countries, Americans typically travel as tourists wherever they please.

8. World Bank, China Overview , 2012, accessed August 4, 2012, http://tiny.cc/73dvuw.

9. We define a middle-class household in China as one with an annual income between US $10,000 and US $60,000.

10. In 2008, the third golden week was reduced to three days.

11. Wolfgang Georg Arlt, China’s Outbound Tourism (New York: Routledge, 2006), 42.

12. Ibid, 43.

13. Trevor H.B. Sofield, “China’s Outbound Tourism to Australia,” Touristics 18, no. 18–11, 2002.

14. This practice was later adopted for Chinese travel to the European Union.

15. Australian Government, Department of Immigration and Citizenship, Fact Sheet 58—China: Approved Destination Status, July 5, 2011, accessed July 31, 2012, http://tiny.cc/u4dvuw.

16. Mark Magnier, 2006.

17. In January 2005, China granted approval to Canada to apply for ADS status, but ADS was not granted until June 2010. Several political disputes between Canada and China appeared to have delayed China’s decision to grant ADS to Canada. Canada threatened to take the matter to the World Trade Organization; see Jon Grenke, Ap­ proved Destination Status: New Zealand, Australia and Lessons for the Canadian Im­ migration System. Project submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of master of public policy (Burnaby, British Columbia: Simon Fraser Uni­versity, approved March 15, 2006); see also, Joy C. Shaw, “Oh Canada, Here Come the Chinese Tourists,” China Real Time Report-WSJ, December 4, 2009, accessed Octo­ber 17, 2012, http://tiny.cc/l5dvuw.

18. Shawn Arita, Sumner La Croix, and James Mak, How Big? The Impact of Approved Destination Status on Chinese Travel Abroad, University of Hawai`i at Manoa, De­partment of Economics Working Paper No. 12–12 (Honolulu: University of Hawai`i at Manoa, 2012).

19. Most of these trips were to Hong Kong and Macau. In 2010, 63 percent of outbound trips from mainland China went to these two destinations.

20. Shawn Arita, Christopher Edmonds, Sumner La Croix, and James Mak, “Impact of Approved Destination Status on Chinese Travel Abroad: An Econometric Analysis,” Tourism Economics 17 no. 5 (2011): 983–996.

21. Three countries—the Maldives (Indian Ocean tsunami), Nepal and Sri Lanka (civil war)—had lower post-ADS tourism growth rates due to natural disasters and war afflicting their tourism sectors.

22. Arita et al. (2011) and Arita et al. (2012).

23. Zhang, 2006.

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It will be two more years until the big-spending Chinese travelers return in force

The contribution of Chinese travelers to global tourism used to be No. 1 in the world. There were 155 million international trips by Chinese travelers in 2019, spending about US$245 billion in total. But because of COVID-19, Chinese international travelers have almost completely disappeared, and retailers and hospitality players across the globe are anxious to know when they will be welcoming those big spenders again.

We used Oliver Wyman’s top-rated Pandemic Navigator to forecast when different countries will achieve herd immunity and open their borders again. We then combined that with our latest consumer sentiment research to forecast when and where Chinese travelers will return to international travel.

The reopening of various national borders is not enough to convince Chinese travelers to travel again. Requirements to quarantine when visiting certain destinations are a major discouragement for many.

But even where no quarantine is in force, there is hesitation, meaning it will take time to recover to pre-COVID levels. For instance, Macau opened its borders to Chinese travelers in September 2020 and had no quarantine requirement. Still by March 2021, visitor numbers were only 29 percent of March 2019 levels.

We forecast that outbound trips by Chinese travelers will recover to 2019 levels two years from now in the second quarter of 2023 at the earliest. The delay is caused by the requirement for herd immunity to be established in China and destinations before quarantine-free travel is allowed. China is not expected to achieve herd immunity until the second quarter of 2022, and even then, our research shows only about 15 percent of Chinese will be willing to jump on a flight right away. Most are adopting a wait-and-see approach on travel and will delay taking international trips for several weeks, if not several months, after the border opens, according to our survey.

For the travel and tourism industry, the good news is that those early travelers are the biggest spenders, eager to shop and enjoy premium services as soon as possible. That means spending is likely to recover sooner than traveler count.

But international spending on luxury is seriously threatened by the new shopping paradise, the island province of Hainan. The Chinese government has a grand plan for Hainan, which has become a welcome alternative for Chinese who travel internationally. It is now one of the top three preferred destinations, rivaling Hong Kong in popularity.

Seventy-one percent of our survey indicated they would continue to travel to Hainan to shop even once the rest of the world opens. The main motivation: It was cheaper to travel there. For the same reason, Hong Kong also has a window of opportunity to continue to hang onto being the go-to place for Chinese travelers after the pandemic.

This article was also authored by Kenneth Chow.

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2024 u.s. election september 23, 2024.

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Event: For U.S. citizens who want to participate in the 2024 U.S. elections from overseas, now is the time to submit your voted ballot.

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Traveling could slow down aging, new study finds

That trip you’ve been planning may have more benefits than you think.

A new study by researchers at Edith Cowan University in Australia, published in Science Daily, found that traveling can potentially slow down signs of aging and give you positive health benefits.

While aging is irreversible and no one can turn back time, travel can slow it down by improving your physical and mental health.

When you leave your day-to-day life and go on vacation, you are often trying things you usually don’t do. This could include meeting new people, participating in more relaxing activities or physical exercise, and getting more sleep.

All of these factors can be beneficial and help with premature aging.

RELATED STORY | How to avoid a holiday season travel nightmare

Researchers looked at the positive and negative impacts of tourism on physical, metal and social health.

Some of their findings included that new settings and environments can elevate metabolic rates, which can impact your body’s metabolism.

More calming travel-related activities like yoga, relaxing, or the spa can help with chronic stress.

Travel can also improve your self-defense system.

RELATED STORY | What’s behind the explosion of solo travel?

A 2020 survey by the U.S. Travel Association found that 97% of survey respondents reported having a trip planned makes them happier. Nearly 3 in 4 respondents said they have greater levels of energy knowing they have a trip planned in the next 6 months.

This summer broke travel records. On top of record-breaking holiday travel weekends, on July 7 the Transportation Security Administration broke the record for most people screened on a single day at more than 3 million people.

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Are Chinese citizens allowed to leave China?

Chinese citizens are generally allowed to leave China, but there are certain restrictions and requirements in place. In order to leave the country, Chinese citizens must have a valid passport and a visa for the country they wish to travel to. They may also need to obtain an exit permit from the Chinese government, especially if they are travelling to certain destinations. Additionally, some individuals, such as those with pending legal issues or who are considered a threat to national security, may be prohibited from leaving the country.

There may also be limitations on travel to certain countries, particularly those with which China has strained diplomatic relations. Furthermore, Chinese citizens who are considering emigrating from China may face additional hurdles, as the government has imposed restrictions on individuals who wish to renounce their citizenship or permanent residency. It is important for Chinese citizens to be aware of the specific regulations and requirements that apply to their travel plans in order to avoid running into any issues.

FAQs about Chinese citizens leaving China

What is the process for obtaining an exit permit from the Chinese government?

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In order to obtain an exit permit from the Chinese government, Chinese citizens must submit an application to the appropriate authorities. The application may require documentation such as proof of travel plans, a valid passport, and a visa for the destination country. The process can vary depending on individual circumstances, and it is important for citizens to allow ample time for the application to be processed.

Yes, there are certain countries to which the Chinese government has imposed restrictions on travel. These restrictions may be based on diplomatic relations, security concerns, or other factors. Chinese citizens should verify the travel advisories and restrictions for their intended destination before making any travel plans.

Chinese citizens who wish to renounce their citizenship must go through a formal process that involves submitting an application and meeting specific criteria. The government may impose certain conditions or limitations on individuals seeking to renounce their citizenship, and it is recommended to seek legal counsel or advice for navigating this process.

If Chinese citizens encounter any issues with their travel plans, such as being denied an exit permit or facing difficulties with obtaining a visa, it is important to seek guidance from the nearest Chinese embassy or consulate. The diplomatic mission can provide assistance and guidance to individuals in resolving any issues related to their travel plans.

While there are generally no restrictions on domestic travel within China, citizens may still encounter certain limitations in specific regions or areas, particularly those with security concerns or sensitive geopolitical circumstances. It is advisable to stay informed of any travel advisories or restrictions that may apply to certain destinations within China.

Chinese citizens who attempt to leave China without meeting the necessary requirements, such as a valid passport, exit permit, or visa, may face legal repercussions and travel restrictions. It is essential for individuals to comply with the regulations and requirements for international travel in order to avoid any adverse consequences.

Chinese citizens traveling to Taiwan may encounter additional requirements and restrictions, as the political relationship between China and Taiwan is complex. It is advisable to seek the latest information and guidance from the relevant authorities before making any travel plans to Taiwan.

Chinese citizens can apply for various types of visas depending on their travel purpose, such as tourist visas, business visas, student visas, and more. The specific requirements and documentation may vary depending on the type of visa being applied for, and it is essential for individuals to carefully review the application process for their intended visa category.

If Chinese citizens encounter difficulties while abroad, such as legal issues, medical emergencies, or other unforeseen circumstances, they can seek assistance from the nearest Chinese embassy or consulate. The diplomatic mission can provide consular services and support to Chinese citizens in need while they are outside of the country.

Chinese citizens traveling to countries with which China has diplomatic tensions should exercise caution and stay informed of any potential risks or security concerns. It is advisable to stay updated on the latest travel advisories and to comply with any special regulations or restrictions that may apply to citizens from China.

Yes, the Chinese government regularly issues travel advisories and warnings for citizens planning international travel. These advisories may include information on security risks, diplomatic tensions, health concerns, and other relevant factors. Chinese citizens should carefully review the travel advisories for their intended destination and make informed decisions based on the latest guidance available.

Recent global events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, have had a significant impact on Chinese citizens’ ability to travel abroad. There have been travel restrictions, health protocols, and other measures implemented by various countries that have affected international travel. Chinese citizens should stay informed of the latest developments and comply with any relevant regulations and requirements for international travel.

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Joanne Davis

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