WHEN international travel began to splutter back into life after the darkest days of the pandemic, a key question the inbound industry wanted answered was ‘when will China come back’?
Aside from the superpower’s mysterious façade and the role it may or may not have played as it related to the pandemic itself, there was no doubting the sheer scale and power its growing middle and upper class played in terms of spending on travel and tourism.
Measured against the final full year prior to the pandemic decimating global travel, Australia welcomed more than 1.4 million Chinese travellers to our shores who collectively spent more than $2.1 billion.
But while different parts of the world resumed travelling at various times throughout the pandemic, China’s dictatorship government kept its citizens at home as it played catch-up in its efforts to stymie the virus it unleashed. The bull was at the gate but unable to get out.
It took until January last year – nearly a full year after Australians had resumed roaming the world – before China decided it was time to unshackle its people and their wallets.
After a very slow start, new booking data released this week by Sabre Corporation suggested China’s affluent travellers and their high, disposable budgets were back to their old, high-spending ways.
As of the end of Mar 2024, booking volumes are up 392% compared to last year, which while not at pre-pandemic levels just yet, is still enough to have the export tourism industry salivating with anticipation, eager for Chinese travellers to return.
Sabre’s data shows Australia is the second-fastest growing market globally in terms of Chinese interest levels, up a massive 1,008% compared to last year. All of China’s top 30 destinations based on booking data are showing triple-digit interest levels, while Australia and Macao are both in quadruple-digits. It’s music to the ears of the Australian Tourism Export Council (ATEC).
ATEC Managing Director, Peter Shelley, told travelBulletin the mood among the tourism export sector is that in some ways, a corner has been turned, but the journey to this point has been more like a never-ending, winding road.
“China has been open not even 18 months, and I think our ADS (Approved Destination Scheme) for groups didn’t start until Aug, so we’re not even 12 months into that and I know it’s going slow,” Shelley said.
“But if you’re looking at 50% of the corner, I think definitely China is on the return, but like any other market it takes a while to gather that full momentum and get back to where we were in 2019.
“I’m not a betting man but we’d have to think that by this time next year, and that would be two and a half years in recovery, I’d like to think that we’re back to close where we were in spend, if not in volume.”
