China Outbound Travel to Spike in Early May
Skift Take
- Fitch Ratings said China’s domestic travel has seen a significant uptick in the first quarter of this year and is likely to gain momentum in the second quarter.
- Trip.com said the first round of outbound travel fever in China is coming ahead of the May Labor Day.
- The construction of Galaxy Entertainment’s Raffles at Galaxy Macau and Andaz Macau, as well as the resort of the phase 3 hotel project for the Cotai casino, is basically complete.
Fitch Ratings said China’s domestic travel has seen a significant uptick in the first quarter of this year and is likely to gain momentum in the second quarter. They believe leisure travel in China continues to rebound but outbound travel remains much lower than before the pandemic levels as flight capacity is still limited. Fitch said business travel demand saw a rapid rebound following the Chinese New Year holiday, leading to a swift hotel industry recovery. Many of the industry’s key operating indicators surpassed pre-pandemic levels by February 2023. Some major Chinese hotel groups such as H World Group Limited and Atour Lifestyle Holdings Limited are forecasting RevPAR will reach above 110% of 2019 levels in the first quarter of 2023. As for outbound travel, international flights are still 70% lower than pre-pandemic as of this month. Flights to Japan and South Korea are expected to increase due to the relaxation of travel restr