① The popularity of Zhongxin Travel Singapore product inquiries increased instantaneously by about 200%, and the number of searches on the OTA platform increased dramatically. According to the industry, the new Matai route is expected to heat up. ② Airlines such as China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Spring Airlines, and Juneyao Airlines all have routes to and from Singapore. ③ Flights between mainland China and Singapore have resumed to nearly 80% of the same period in 2019, and the recovery rate of some airlines has exceeded 100%.
Financial News Agency, December 7 (Reporter Hu Haoqiong) Today, Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Huang Xuncai revealed at the 19th meeting of the Joint Committee on Sino-Singapore Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC) held in Tianjin that on the basis of the continuous increase in flights between the two countries, the two countries will be exempting each other from visas for 30 days to facilitate personnel exchanges between the two countries.
According to a reporter from the Financial Association, since this year, Singapore has always been a popular outbound travel destination for Chinese tourists due to its rich tourism resources. A number of first-tier travel operators told the Financial Association that if the two countries officially implement visa-free access for 30 days, it will further benefit the short trip market.
“As the first destination country in the Southeast Asian market to recover, the recovery trend has always been quite obvious. After announcing that Singapore was visa-free recently, the popularity of Zhongxin Travel (002707.SZ)'s product inquiries in Singapore instantly increased by about 200%.” Li Mengran, PR manager of Zhongxin Travel Media, told the Finance Association reporter.
The number of searches on the OTA platform has also increased dramatically. According to data from Where to Go, on December 7, the Singapore search index increased 4 times over last week, and the number of searches for tickets to Universal Studios Singapore increased 40% month over month.
It is worth mentioning that Singapore's visa-free travel will also bring a new direction to Southeast Asian tourism. “If the visa-free period covers national holidays such as New Year's Day and Spring Festival, it will provide new options for tourists who spend their annual leave at the end of the year and have travel plans for New Year's Day and Spring Festival.” Li Mengran said.
Xiao Peng, a researcher at the Where to Go Big Data Research Institute, said that Malaysia previously announced a visa-free visit to China. Judging from where to go on vacation orders, the increase in visitors to Malaysia alone is not obvious. Once Singapore is visa-free, the playability of this route can be increased. It can be extended from a three-day tour in Malaysia to a 5-6 day tour between Singapore and Malaysia, making it more cost-effective for travelers to travel abroad once. Singapore and Malaysia are located in tropical regions and are expected to become popular destinations during the Spring Festival.
Cheng Chaogong, chief researcher at Tongcheng Research Institute, said that Singapore can even connect with Malaysia and Thailand. It is expected that the travel of Chinese citizens to New Malaysia and Thailand will increase further in 2024.
A number of travel agencies are now planning to prepare these routes.
Ctrip (TCOM.US) has launched a special Chinese New Year outbound travel event and launched a number of travel routes including Singapore, such as Singapore+Malaysia 6-day group tour products departing from Beijing.
Furthermore, up to now, the Singapore-Malaysia link products during the spring and autumn tours and New Year's Day have all formed groups, with only a few places left; during the Spring Festival, the products to the three countries of Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, and Malaysia have all covered Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, and Malaysia. With further changes in the visa-free information in Singapore, the Spring and Autumn Travel Singapore business segment will prepare a new Tai-XinMalaysia 10-day connection product.
On the airline side, the Finance Association reporter learned that during the new season, China Eastern Airlines (600115.SH)'s route recovery rate to and from Singapore reached 117%; China Southern Airlines (600029.SH) encrypted the Guangzhou-Singapore route. In addition, airlines such as Spring Airlines (601021.SH) and Juneyao Airlines (603855.SH) also sell flights to Singapore.
Meanwhile, the number of passenger flights from mainland China to and from Singapore is growing steadily.
(Data source: flight manager)
According to flight manager data, in the 48th week of this year (November 27 to December 3), the actual number of passenger flights between mainland China and Singapore was 588, an increase of 9.7% from week to week, recovering to 79.4% in the same period in 2019 (week 48 of 2019, the number of flights to and from Singapore was 741).
In terms of ticket prices, according to accurate flight data, in the next month, direct air tickets from China to Singapore will start as low as 688 yuan.
“Given that all international flights in China have not yet resumed, and the market demand between China and Singapore is strong, (mutual visa-free) will help airlines prioritize the layout of routes between China and Singapore, effectively stimulate the resumption of direct flights between China and Singapore, and may surpass 2019 (same period).” Zhou Weihong, deputy general manager of Chunqiu Tourism, said.