Holidays at home for record number of Chinese as economic slowdown bites
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Travelers at Hongqiao International Airport in Shanghai on Sept 27, 2023.
PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
Follow topic:
SHANGHAI – A record number of Chinese are choosing to travel at home this Golden Week holiday, potentially boosting domestic consumption but disappointing travel agents who have been waiting for big-spending tourists to go back abroad since the pandemic ended.
China will celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival and the country’s National Day from Friday to Oct 6 in the longest public holiday in 2023.
The break traditionally sees an overseas exodus of middle-class Chinese and bumper domestic travel, with millions of people, mostly labourers and factory workers, returning to their home villages.
But with the economy struggling to recover after the Covid-19 pandemic, previous holidays in 2023 have disappointed in terms of spending per person, as a weak job market and low incomes hurt consumer spending.
More Chinese are still reluctant to spend on nice-to-haves such as overseas holidays, but how much they do spend domestically during this holiday will be a key gauge of consumer appetite, a crucial component for the long-term growth potential of the world’s second-largest economy.
“It’s not wise to spend so much money,” said Beijing tech industry employee Joe Zhang, who will travel within China this holiday after high ticket prices scuppered his plans to go to Japan.
“I’m disappointed. I haven’t been abroad in three years,” the 27-year-old added.
The China Tourism Academy, part of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, estimates that people will make more than 100 million trips a day during “the most popular Golden Week in history”.
Trains are expected to be packed and the average number of daily flights is expected to be a fifth higher than during the 2019 holiday, according to flight app Umetrip.
The Spring Festival break earlier in 2023 was the first big holiday since the end of nationwide Covid-19 curbs, but travel was muted owing to an outbreak of the virus.
Fly less, buy less
While the data points towards a resurgence in domestic tourism, the outbound market has recovered to only about 60 per cent of its pre-pandemic levels, said Mr Boon Sian Chai, managing director and vice-president of international markets for Trip.com, China’s largest online travel platform.
Cost is a major deciding factor, as the average price of group travel tours from China is up to 30 per cent higher than before the pandemic, partly because airlines have yet to resume their pre-Covid-19 schedules, Mr Boon said.
A resident of Anqing city, in eastern Anhui province, who gave her family name as Cao, plans to stay in her home town this holiday, as the monthly instalments for her recently purchased apartment were draining most of her disposable income.
“I used to travel farther, but this year I will either stay in my home town or go to nearby places,” she said.
China in August lifted restrictions on group tours for key travel markets
Booking platforms and agencies say Chinese going abroad favour cheaper Asian destinations, with Thailand by far the preferred choice after it introduced a visa-waiver programme.
If a family travels together, they can save more than 1,000 yuan (S$191) on total visa fees, said travel agency Spring Tour’s deputy general manager Zhou Weihong. “That’s not bad.”
In 2019, mainland Chinese tourists spent US$255 billion (S$350 billion) abroad, more than any other nationality, with group tours estimated to account for roughly 60 per cent of that total.
But retailers longing for the return of these tourists will have to wait a while longer.
“I don’t think I will spend too much on shopping in Thailand,” said another tech industry employee named Wang Zheng. “The main thing is to enjoy the beach.” REUTERS
