More and more countries and regions have introduced preferential policies to tap into the recovering Chinese outbound tourism market, the latest being the African nation of Tunisia, which has decided to implement a visa-free policy for Chinese tourists.
The visa-free policy will apply to Chinese individuals or groups travelling to Tunisia directly from China or other countries. Chinese tourists will be required to make hotel reservations and air tickets before entering the country, the Chinese Embassy in Tunisia said on Saturday.
Tourism plays a crucial role in the African country’s economy, and Tunisian officials have previously said that the Chinese market has great potential for Tunisia’s tourism industry, hoping to attract more Chinese tourists, Xinhua News Agency reported on Saturday.
As China’s domestic tourism industry is rapidly recovering, the just-concluded National Day holiday, as well as upcoming holidays and festivals such as New Year’s Day and Spring Festival, have become important opportunities for outbound tourism sectors to attract Chinese visitors.
Besides Tunisia, a number of countries and regions have recently introduced similar entry policies for Chinese tourists, including Thailand, Kiribati and Georgia, according to media reports.
During China’s eight-day Golden Week, which began on 29 September and included the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays, the total number of inbound and outbound trips reached 11.82 million, rebounding to 85.1 per cent of the 2019 level, according to data from China’s National Immigration Administration.
Outbound bookings made through tourism platform Trip.com during Golden Week increased more than eight times year-on-year. In terms of air tickets, the post-1990s group was still the “main force” of outbound travellers, according to data the platform sent to the Global Times.
Beijing-based Cindy Zhang is one of the post-1990s. She and her husband flew to the Maldives for their honeymoon, the first time she had travelled abroad since the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Before the pandemic, I travelled abroad once a year for four years in a row. I plan to resume that frequency and continue to explore the world,” Zhang told the Global Times on Sunday.
“Outbound tourism has recovered within expectations, with the most popular destinations being Singapore, Dubai and some tropical island countries,” Jia Jianqiang, CEO of Beijing-based online agency 6renyou, told the Global Times.
Although there is still a gap in current business compared to pre-pandemic levels, a further recovery is expected, Jia said.
China has been the world’s leading outbound tourism market since 2013. In addition to their significant numbers, Chinese tourists are known for their robust spending power. For this reason, many countries and regions, especially those with a significant stake in the tourism industry, attach great importance to attracting Chinese tourists, Jiang Yiyi, deputy head of the School of Leisure Sports and Tourism at Beijing Sport University, told the Global Times.
Amid the ongoing gradual recovery of the global tourism industry, attracting more Chinese tourists is very important for the employment, economy and related industry chains of many tourist destinations, Jiang said.
Before the pandemic, Chinese tourists made about 150 million outbound trips annually, and the market still has immense potential to boost the global tourism recovery, Jiang said.
