Visa-free travel seems to be the main axis of domestic inbound tourism.
Following the extension of the visa-free policy for 12 countries including France, the Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a message showing that China has decided to expand the scope of visa-free countries and try out the visa-free policy for ordinary passport holders from three countries: New Zealand, Australia and Poland. Among them, on June 17, only half an hour after the release of the news of Australia's visa exemption, Australian tourists searched for China-related keywords on Trip.com, an increase of more than 80% from the previous day, which shows that foreigners' sentiment towards China is high.
According to the main data released by the National Immigration Administration in the first quarter, a total of 466,000 foreigners were issued visa documents and 1.988 million foreigners entered without visas, an increase of 118.8% and 266.1% year-on-year, respectively.
The dazzling data shows that inbound tourism is showing a vigorous posture, and many short videos of "foreigners getting together" can also be seen on social platforms. Behind the popularity of the platform, what efforts can tourism companies make to tap greater development space?
Author | He Wenjing
Curated | Xu Yue
01
Follow the visa-free climb all the way
Since the beginning of 2023, with the implementation of waves of policy dividends, the overall domestic inbound tourism data has shown a steady upward trend, and since the implementation of the unilateral visa-free policy, the entry and exit of foreigners has shown a trend of opening and moving high.
At the beginning of this year, the China Tourism Academy gave an optimistic prediction: "According to preliminary estimates, in 2024, the foreign entry market is expected to recover to 50% of 2019, and the Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan entry market will fully recover." ”
According to data provided by the flight steward, as of June 26, the cumulative number of inbound travel flights this year was close to 160,000, recovering to about 70% of the same period in 2019. Among them, there are about 29,000 flights from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, and about 130,000 flights from other countries, with the number of flights from other countries increasing by more than 185% compared with the same period in 2023, which is a gratifying increase.
There is also good news for the cruise ship, in early April, the "Maikhif 5" carried more than 2,500 European tourists from Germany, Austria, Switzerland and other countries to dock at Shanghai Wusongkou International Cruise Port. This means that since the resumption of inbound tourism, the largest overseas tour group in China has landed. According to a number of media reports, Shanghai is expected to receive 18 cruise ships and more than 40,000 tourists throughout the year.
Tour groups are one of the signs of the recovery of inbound tourism, and many travel agencies have exploded. Xu Xiaolei, chief brand officer of CYTS, said in the "Focus Interview" that in March and April alone, CYTS received a total of several 1,000-person groups; According to Fang Fang, the person in charge of the inbound tourism business of Guangzhou Tour, as of May this year, Guangzhou Travel has successively received a number of international business groups of more than 100 people.
The business of the travel agency is booming, and the tour guide is busy. The small-language tour guide who lives in Chengdu said, "The itinerary from June to the end of October is full. The cost of part-time tour guides has also risen, and a practitioner in Guangzhou who is engaged in Russian-speaking tour guides said that during the Canton Fair, the daily salary is basically about 800 yuan, and the maximum can reach 1,000 yuan.
With the influx of foreigners, scenic spots, museums, and hotels have also taken advantage of the trend to introduce convenient measures. For example, the Shanghai Museum has opened telephone reservation channels for group tours and independent tourists, as well as a reservation system channel for logging in to the official website with a valid email address.
In terms of payment, it has always been a big difficulty for inbound tourism, and Xi'an has united the forces of scenic spots, banks and other parties to build a demonstration area for foreign guest payment services by increasing foreign currency cash business outlets, providing foreign card payment pos machines, and supporting multiple international APP scanning code payment. Other cities have introduced similar facilitation measures.
Although the National Immigration Administration has not released the relevant data on entry and exit in the second quarter, looking at the data of the May Day and Dragon Boat Festival holidays reported by the National Immigration Administration, the number of foreign arrivals and exits reached 779,000 and 507,000 respectively, a significant increase over the same period last year. It is not difficult to predict that in 2024, the inbound travel market will climb all the way along with the visa-free bonus.
02
“China Travel”成流量密码？
According to Blue Whale News, the number of foreigners entering the country without a visa this year is about 10 times that of the same period last year. Domestic media and content platforms also have a lot of applauded videos.
For example, in the well-known blogger Gao Yousi's Station B account "Crooked Nut Research Institute", in many videos of foreigners traveling to China, foreigners have expressed their recognition of China's tourism experience. One of the videos of Russian tourists traveling to the special forces in Shanghai has been viewed 1.8 million times.
The accounts opened by other foreigners at station B are also full of praise for China tourism. The domestic market attaches great importance to inbound tourism, and it is not surprising that the content platform is applauding, but is "China Travel" really a traffic password? The answer from overseas platforms may be more convincing.
Searching for terms "144-hour transit visa-free" and "China Travel" on TikTok, a number of highly praised videos came into view, such as the foreign brother visiting China for $899, following the Chinese to explore Changsha and Zhangjiajie, and checking in the Dali Erhai wheat field, all of which have received thousands or even millions of likes.
In addition to showing China's scenery and travel tips summarized by their own personal experience, some people lamented China's technological progress, and when foreigners witnessed China's drone delivery service, bloggers exclaimed "China is already in 2030".
老牌视频平台YouTube里，“unexpected” “never expected” “not what we expected”则是标题中的高频词汇。
One video, titled "Why Nobody Wants Us to Go to China," has been viewed 1.38 million times. The account "JetLag Warriors" is run by a full-time traveling couple, who have traveled to 34 cities in China since December last year, thanks to the convenience of "144-hour transit visa-free". So far, the account has accumulated more than 5.6 million views of the China column, far more than the series of videos from other countries in the account.
The comment section under YouTube-related videos is very lively, with some people sharing their experiences of living in China for decades, others lamenting that the China they see is completely different from the media reports they have seen earlier, and some people are popularizing Chinese cuisine to bloggers, and the public opinion atmosphere is relatively friendly.
Nowadays, the trend of public opinion in overseas media has also shifted in the direction of positive evaluation. For example, Euronews believes that "the visa-free policy has released a positive signal that China will further open up to the outside world and welcome more tourists to visit China"; According to the Spanish newspaper El País, "China has shown its sincerity in continuing to expand its opening up to the outside world." Skift, a U.S. travel industry website, also affirmed China's efforts to promote inbound travel in terms of payment environment and convenient bookings.
03
In addition to the explosion, there is still a long way to go
Interestingly, foreign bloggers post videos about their trips to China in a very different way from regular tourist attractions. Most of the bloggers are visiting supermarkets, taking the subway, and participating in New Year's events, as if they are integrating into the local area and experiencing Chinese life.
Professor Zhang Zhi'an of Fudan University believes that this is not a bad thing, pointing out that the popularity of the "China travel" video is to shoot China through the lens of ordinary people and daily life, which will definitely enrich China's global visibility.
In the news released by major media, it can be seen that the proportion of elderly people in overseas tour groups is obviously high, and most of their tourism programs are based on traditional ways such as scenic spot visits and cable cars, and the routes are basically the same as those of domestic group tourists.
Although there are similar attractions in China for high-quality vacation activities such as diving, surfing, and skiing, which are popular with young foreign tourists, they have not yet become a climate. However, some people in the industry believe that although the guide to scenic spots is generally introduced in multiple languages, and some scenic spots or tourism service agencies will also provide one-stop services such as free transportation, e-SIM card Internet access services, and diversified catering, this cannot make up for the shortcomings of leisure and vacation products.
"The ceiling of domestic vacation is Sanya, and its target is Phuket and Miami, but obviously the current level is still far from the same, and you can't let foreigners stay in the hotel every day for vacation." Tourism expert Zhou Mingqi said. If the vacation atmosphere is insufficient, it is difficult to stimulate high-net-worth individuals to spend, and tour groups are easy to favor low-end experiences, such as simple tourism, landmark check-ins, fixed group meals, etc.
Volume means low price. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, from 2015 to 2019, inbound tourism revenue increased from US$113.7 billion to US$131.3 billion year by year, an annual increase of less than 1%, and the overall increase was only 15%. Its tourism consumption power is not only very small compared with domestic consumption, but its per capita consumption is also equivalent to the level of "poor travel".
According to the 2024 Tourism Development Index, China ranks eighth in the world in terms of promoting tourism development and is the only developing economy in the top 10.
Liang Jianzhang, co-founder of Trip.com Group, has publicly stated that if China's inbound tourism revenue can account for 1.5% of GDP, it will bring more than one trillion yuan of incremental space. Nowadays, from the policy level, to tourism enterprises, to individuals, they are all working together to promote the gears of inbound tourism. The common goal of everyone is not only to let the world see the real and three-dimensional China, but also to lift China's tourism economy.
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