Outbound Chinese Tour Groups Have Restarted
Skift Take
- Tour groups from mainland China to 20 countries have restarted, 11 of which are in Asia Pacific.
- Meanwhile, in China, hotels and restaurants are frantically searching for employees. During the first six days of work after China’s Lunar New Year holiday, job openings in the hotel and catering sectors surged 40% from the same period a year earlier.
- Colliers Philippines said the average hotel occupancy rate in Metro Manila is expected to further increase to over 60% this year, driven by a higher number of domestic and foreign travelers.
Tour groups from mainland China to 20 countries have restarted, 11 of which are in Asia Pacific. This includes Singapore, Philippines, Cambodia, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Macau and Hong Kong. Countries that are not on the list include Japan, South Korea and the US. The battle already is fierce for these low-margin groups as some countries remain starved for tourism business and others want to further their progress with all types of business. Analysts at COTRI questioned this logic saying for most destinations and service providers, first-time travelers from lower-tier Chinese cities will create more problems than profit. That being said, there is a target of 200 million outbound Chinese tourists expected to be reached by 2028. That is a rather powerful number. As to how the competition will be, Hong Kong already announced they will be giving away 500,000 free airline tickets, not just for those in Mainland China but worldwide but first focus
