Back in business, China’s online travel sites Qunar, Ctrip expect a surge in domestic tourism amid global shutdown
- Ctrip started selling travel packages and attraction tickets last week as the country accelerated the pace of reopening parks and tourist spots
- Analysys is forecasting that the proportion of domestic tourism will increase to 60 per cent from 47 per cent last year
Qunar and Ctrip, two of China’s biggest online travel service providers, have resumed bookings for travel packages and attraction tickets after a two-month hiatus as the country recorded its lowest number of deaths since the outbreak and no new infections for the second day in a row.
Customers can now book presale travel packages for April and May on Qunar’s app and website, a company spokeswoman told the Post. Qunar is now offering 1,000 domestic travel packages for regions including Shanghai, Xinjiang and Sichuan, based on the respective local government guidelines for the resumption of tourism.
With the coronavirus on every continent except Antarctica and the health crisis easing in China, the country’s online travel platforms will see a spike in demand for domestic tourism.
For the full year of 2020, Analysys is forecasting that the proportion of domestic tourism in the country’s overall holiday travel market will increase to 60 per cent from 47 per cent last year, with that number dependent on how long international travel restrictions remain in place.
The coronavirus, also known as Covid-19, broke out in Wuhan in January and has sickened over 244,000 and killed more than 10,000 people globally so far. The pandemic is proving to be a massive blow to the global travel industry, with most countries severely restricting international flights and some even outright banning their citizens from travelling abroad.