China’s tourism industry expected to remain weak early in 2021 amid fresh coronavirus travel curbs

Name: Coronavirus pandemic puts the brakes on China’s usual Lunar New Year travel rush
Uploaded: 2021-02-11T11:25:44.000Z
Duration: 2 min 45 s
Description: Coronavirus pandemic puts the brakes on China’s usual Lunar New Year travel rush

Package holidays numbers in China recovered gradually throughout 2020, following draconian coronavirus lockdowns and travel restrictions in the first quarter

While there are signs of improvement, China’s hard-hit tourism industry faces fresh challenges due to virus outbreaks coinciding with the Lunar New Year holiday

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China’s tourism industry has been among the hardest hit by pandemic. Photo: Reuters

Amanda Lee

Published: 7:25pm, 11 Feb 2021Updated: 7:25pm, 11 Feb 2021

China’s tourism industry showed signs of recovery towards the end of last year, but analysts believe holiday spending is unlikely to pick up in coming months.

Some 25.25 million people joined package tours in the fourth quarter, down by nearly half from the same period a year earlier, according to data released by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism on Wednesday.

Still, participation in package holidays recovered gradually throughout 2020, from 4.98 million in the first quarter at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, to 7.79 million in the second quarter and 19.71 million in the third quarter, according to ministry figures.

The tourism industry has been among the hardest hit by pandemic as a result of lockdown measures, travel restrictions and fears among would-be travellers about the risk of catching the virus while away from home.

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Coronavirus pandemic puts the brakes on China’s usual Lunar New Year travel rush

China’s tourism revenue in 2020 is likely to have fallen to 4.13 trillion yuan (US$640 billion), a decrease of about 2.5 trillion yuan from 2019, according to estimates from iiMedia, a data company.