Coronavirus outbreak in Fujian poses fresh threat to China’s troubled travel market
- Before the Fujian outbreak started last week, there were signs China’s travel market was starting to bounce back after a bleak summer
- But fresh lockdowns and bans on interprovincial tours have cast a cloud over the recovery and will not help already weak consumer spending
A rapidly expanding outbreak of the Delta variant in China’s southeastern province of Fujian is posing a new threat to recovery of the local tourism industry, with fresh lockdowns set to torpedo upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival travel and holiday plans.
Covid-19 infections have grown to at least 213, including asymptomatic cases, in a week since the outbreak was detected, prompting a ban on interprovincial group tours to and from Fujian. In the coastal city of Xiamen, which is home to several popular attractions, tourism has ground to a halt following a lockdown and some highway closures.
All tours in and out of Fujian this month have been cancelled and there are no bookings until mid-October, said Chen Muxiang, who works for one of Xiamen’s largest travel agencies, China International Travel Service Corporation.
“There’s nothing going on in tourism whatsoever, Gulangyu has stopped selling tickets, hotels are vacant, and many of them are now used as quarantine sites,” she said, referring to the popular Unesco World Cultural Heritage Site.
Tourism is a place filled with woes right now
“Everyone in the industry is waiting or actively looking for other options. Tourism is a place filled with woes right now. There’s no more opportunity to make money this year.”