Cailianshe news on June 29th (Reporter Hu Haoqiong) With the arrival of the student summer vacation, the tourism market has triggered a wave of parent-child travel, and related tourism bookings have entered a period of intensive activity. At the same time, data from multiple OTA platforms shows that the growth of outbound and inbound tourism has increased rapidly due to policy dividends.

"Today is the first day of my child's summer vacation, and our family of three chooses to go to Japan for a trip. We plan to visit Tokyo Disneyland, Izu Peninsula and other scenic spots for a total of 8 days." This morning, Ms. Xin told the Cailian News reporter at the international departure level of the Pudong Airport that this was also our first time going abroad after the epidemic. We mainly traveled in the Northwestern region of China before.

Some travelers also said that they plan to travel in Beijing during the summer vacation. "But there are too many tourists, and it is still difficult to book some tourist attractions."

"Currently, summer travel bookings have entered a period of intensive activity. It is expected that the entire summer travel market this year, not only will domestic tourism continue to maintain a "high flow", but also the heat of inbound and outbound tourism will rise." said Zhou Weihong, vice president of Spring & Autumn Tourism.

Visa opportunities before the peak season, an increase in inbound tourism orders

Since the beginning of this year, favorable visa policies for inbound tourism have been frequently issued. For example, the recently extended reciprocal visa exemption between China and Malaysia, the implementation of the visa-free policy for ordinary passport holders from three countries including New Zealand, Australia, and Poland, etc. Under this background, inbound tourism has recovered rapidly.

Data obtained by Cailian News from Shanghai Pudong International Airport shows that as of June 26 this year, there were 49,031 international and Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan inbound flights (an average of 275 flights per day), a year-on-year increase of 91.5%, and 7.063 million international and Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan inbound passengers (an average of 40,000 passengers per day), up 180.2% year-on-year.

From the perspective of inbound tourism of Utour Group (002707.SZ), Li Mengran, the company's media PR manager, told Cailian News that the company receives several inbound tourism teams every month. The inbound countries are mainly tourists from the "Belt and Road" countries such as Kazakhstan.

"Recently, with the further promotion of visa-free policies and cruise ship visa-free entry policies, the number of tourists from Europe, America, Southeast Asia and other countries has gradually increased. In addition, the inbound ports are more abundant than before. In addition to big cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Hangzhou being popular with foreign tourists, cities such as Qingdao in Shandong, Nanjing, and Zhengzhou have also begun to welcome inbound tourists. With the further implementation of the cruise ship visa-free policy, more inbound ports are continuously opening up, which will attract more inbound tourists." said Li Mengran.

Recently, foreign visitors who came to Shanghai for sightseeing generally stayed in Shanghai for 2-4 nights, generally staying in four- or five-star hotels, and spending about 1,000 yuan per person per day in Shanghai.

According to Ctrip data, inbound tourism orders have doubled year-on-year this summer. Inbound tourism orders for tourists from 14 countries, including France, Italy, Germany, Malaysia, and Thailand, who can enter China without a visa have increased by 1.5 times as a whole compared to the same period last year. Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Xi'an, Shenzhen, Qingdao, Hangzhou, Chongqing, and Kunming are popular cities for inbound tourism.

In order to attract more foreign tourists, today, the T2 station of Shanghai Pudong International Airport's foreign personnel one-stop comprehensive service center has been completed and put into trial operation. According to four modules of payment, cultural tourism, communication, and transportation, the center provides relevant services for international inbound tourists. Cailian News reporters also learned that after the T2 station of Pudong Airport's comprehensive service center for foreigners has been put into use, the T1 station of Pudong Airport and Hongqiao Airport's T1 station for foreign personnel one-stop comprehensive service centers plan to be completed and put into use in October.

Overall, outbound tourism is expected to recover to its pre-epidemic level.

As of now, the international ticket sales volume for summer on the Qunar platform has increased by 1.5 times year-on-year. Qunar said that the demand for outbound tourism during the summer is very strong, and it is expected to basically recover to the same period in 2019. The threshold for outbound tourism will also become lower and the outbound tourism market will continue to develop.

The number of bookings for outbound tourism from Spring & Autumn Tourism during the summer vacation has increased by more than 150% compared to the same period last year. As of now, according to its visa application volume, short-haul destinations like Japan and South Korea and long-haul destinations and Schengen visas like the UK are among the top.

It is worth mentioning that Laos recently announced a visa-free policy for Chinese tourists. Zhou Weihong said that the release of this visa-free policy will also have a positive impetus for travel agencies to promote travel to Laos. Moreover, the coverage period of this visa-free policy includes the upcoming peak travel periods such as summer, National Day, and New Year's Day, which will bring more choices for Chinese tourists. In addition to flying, tourists can also travel to Laos via the "rail travel" mode, from Kunming via the China-Laos railway.

According to travel data, as of June 27th, the number of domestic round-trip tickets to Laos during the 2024 summer travel season is about 18,000, an increase of about 2.5 times compared to the same period last year. The main travelers to Laos come from Shanghai, Kunming, Haikou, Guangzhou, and Nanning.

Domestic tours are "thermostatic", and long-distance tours in the border areas are popular.

Long-distance tours are the main force in the summer, and according to Ctrip's current data, they account for more than 70%.

Traditional hotspots like long-distance border tours continue to be popular, with tourism orders in the northeast and southwest regions up 40% and 25% respectively year-on-year, and orders for popular summer wilderness tours in the northwest up over 20% year-on-year.

This summer, Chunqiu Tourism's charter flight products to Xinjiang are also entering an accelerated period of sales. According to Zhou Weihong, the first flight of the "Shanghai-Turpan" charter flight this year will be launched on July 5th, and it is expected to be sold out ahead of schedule this week. The sales progress of the Turpan charter flight tour this year shows signs of acceleration, and overall, it is about 4-5 days ahead of the same period last year.

"On the one hand, relying on the continued popularity of Xinjiang tourism this year, tourists not only expect to taste the fruits of Turpan, but also aspire to the 'red hot' hotspots such as the Duku Highway and Altay; On the other hand, customized, experiential, and cost-effective charter flight products continue to attract tourists." Zhou Weihong said.

It is worth mentioning that Qunar stated that in addition to some scarce vacation and specialty hotels that have the confidence to increase prices during the peak season, more hotels have chosen to stabilize prices or even reduce them to improve occupancy rates. Qunar's data shows that as of now, the average price of domestic air tickets during the summer travel season has dropped by 6% compared to the same period last year, and the average price of Zhongxing hotels, which had "sky-high prices" last summer, has fallen by 8%.