Tourists’ slow return to China post-Covid causing headaches for travel industry

When looking to book her first international holiday post-Covid, the two Asian countries that came to Val’s mind were Vietnam and Japan, as she said they fit her preferences of being close, economical and offering the right balance of nature and culture.

Val, an architect living in Melbourne, Australia, who asked not to give her surname, said she did not consider China, which has announced many measures this year to attract international travellers since its long-awaited border reopening in January.

Val said her “lack of curiosity” about China as well as her dislike of travelling in tours – something she thought was needed for visiting China – stopped her from adding the country to her itinerary.

“I might feel a bit unsafe [if travelling alone], also the language barrier,” she said. But she added that if China was visa-free, it may encourage her to visit in the future.

Brett Mitchell, managing director of Australia-New Zealand at Intrepid Travel, an Australian company that runs group tours worldwide, said the firm’s China bookings this year were nearly 90 per cent down from pre-Covid levels in 2019. He said only 130 people booked trips to China this year compared with over 1,000 four years ago.

Inbound travel to China was halted for three years from March 2020 due to the pandemic. But in January this year, China removed most of its Covid restrictions, becoming the last country in Asia besides North Korea to reopen its borders, and reintroduced the 72/144-hour visa-free transit policy for travellers from more than countries.