Does Australia need Chinese tourists? Confidence in domestic tourism to prop things up could be misplaced
- Domestic tourism made up almost three-quarters of Australia’s market in 2019 but Covid-19 and recent bush fires have seen spending plummet
- Soured Australia-China relations and warnings of racial discrimination are likely to keep many Chinese tourists away even when normal travel resumes
Way back in 2019, before we had become acquainted with “selfish” masks, spike proteins and the Greek alphabet, Tourism Australia was chasing a dream: the high value traveller.
“High value travellers (HVTs) are empowered and increasingly knowledgeable about the world around them,” wrote the tourism body in a report. “They know what they want, when they want it and where they want to get it.”
Apparently, China is home to 20.4 million of these mythical voyagers, who spend up to three times more than the “average traveller” and “of which 10.8 million are considering visiting Australia in the next four years”.
Two of those four years have now passed and Chinese HVTs remain a fantasy. Even as Australia looks forward to fewer entry restrictions – and thus more tourists – in 2022, affluent arrivals from the Middle Kingdom are expected to stay away, something that Australian tourism minister Dan Tehan would like everyone to know the nation is fine with.
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“Tehan says Australia doesn’t need dollars from Chinese travellers, as the country gears up to reopen to the world,” reported News.com.au on December 9.
“Australia’s star had shone bright throughout the pandemic as far as
the rest of the world was concerned,” Tehan had told the CAPA Centre for Aviation conference the previous day. “People want to come to Australia, and that is the message I’ve got very, very clearly, whether it be North America, Europe, Asia.
“We’re not likely to see Chinese tourism reboot for the first six months of next year, but what we will continue to see is Australians continuing to holiday at home and spending more.”
He has a point. In an online analysis of 2019 tourism data, Australian insurer Budget Direct noted that the industry “accounted for 3.1 per cent of the national GDP, contributing A$60.8 billion [US$43 billion] to the Australian economy […] Of this, 26 per cent came from international visitors to Australia while 74 per cent came from domestic tourism.”
However, domestic tourism spending in September declined by 64 per cent compared with the same period in 2019, to A$26 billion, according to government data. “The recent bush fires and Coronavirus (Covid-19) have had an enormous impact on Australia’s domestic tourism market,” admits the Tourism Research Australia website.
And even if none of this were true, there is the simple fact that very few Chinese travellers are prepared to cross their country’s border. “A new report on China’s outbound tourism by China Tourism Academy, part of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, shows a majority of Chinese citizens (83 per cent) would only travel to countries with zero new Covid cases and 82 per cent of them said they choose to travel domestically rather than overseas in the near future,” Australian broadcaster ABC reported in November.
It looks like Australia, like everywhere else in the world that is opening up, will have to learn to live without the Chinese traveller, high value or otherwise.
Laos gear up to welcome fully vaccinated tourists
Laos becomes the latest Asian destination to announce its imminent reopening, after the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism “outlined the plans” at a meeting on December 7.
“The public and private sectors are making plans to reopen Laos to fully vaccinated tourists in 2022, and details regarding quarantine upon entry are still being debated,” Xinhua reported.
“The programme will see Lao capital Vientiane, Vangvieng and Luang Prabang designated as ‘green zones; to ensure the safety of travellers and service providers’.”
Laos recorded a total of 4.58 million international arrivals in 2019, most of whom entered from Thailand, although Chinese tourist numbers were growing fast, and stood at 1.02 million, according to another Xinhua report.
Hongkongers planning GOAT travel experiences in 2022
Online travel agent Expedia has released its Travel Trends report, “revealing new traveller priorities that are shaking up the status quo in 2022”.
When it comes to Hongkongers, we’re apparently “planning to go big on their new trips with a new ‘no regrets’ style of travel”, aka “the ‘GOAT’ (Greatest of All Trips) mindset”.
This means, we’re told, that travellers from the city “are planning to be more present and live in the moment, immerse themselves in culture, splurge on experiences and seek out excitement, as they crave the feelings of contentment/mental well-being (46 per cent), gratification (42 per cent) and excitement/exhilaration (38 per cent)”.
That sounds like a holiday on steroids. And possibly a pipe dream.
Among the destinations Expedia suggests for GOAT-seekers are: Macau, Thailand and Japan. Great places, sure, but GOAT places? Perhaps after two travel-free years, anywhere will tick that box.
