The impact of the recent optimization of entry and exit policies on travel consumption is rapidly emerging.

The impact of the optimization of entry and exit policies on travel consumption has quickly emerged. Searches for outbound air tickets and overseas hotels on many online travel platforms have increased significantly. Asian countries such as Japan, South Korea, and Thailand are favored by Chinese tourists. The high international air ticket prices are also expected to fall as a result.

Outbound travel data has surged

The Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of the State Council released the "Overall Plan on Implementing "Category B and B Control" for New Coronavirus Infections on the evening of December 26. A plan was proposed to optimize the management of personnel exchanges between China and foreign countries. People coming to China should take a nucleic acid test 48 hours before departure. Those with negative results can come to China without applying for a health code from our embassy or consulate abroad. The results will be filled in the customs health declaration card. Canceling nucleic acid testing and centralized quarantine for all personnel upon entry.

At the same time, the plan also proposes to cancel the "Five Ones" and passenger load factor restrictions and other international passenger flight quantity control measures. Further optimize arrangements for foreigners coming to China for resumption of work and production, business, study abroad, family visits, reunions, etc., and provide corresponding visa conveniences. Based on the international epidemic situation and the service support capabilities of all aspects, outbound travel by Chinese citizens will be resumed in an orderly manner.

After the plan was released, searches for popular overseas destinations, outbound air tickets, hotels, visas, etc. increased rapidly.

Ctrip data shows that within half an hour of the release of the plan, the search volume for popular overseas destinations on Ctrip’s platform increased 10 times year-on-year, and the search volume for outbound (including Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan) air tickets and overseas hotels reached the highest level in three years. peak.

Tongcheng Travel Platform data shows that after the plan was released, instant searches for international air tickets on all platforms increased by 850%. As of 9 a.m. on December 27, the volume of international air ticket orders has reached 2.5 times that of the whole day on December 26. At the same time, the number of visa inquiries on December 27 increased 15 times from the previous day, reaching a three-year peak.

Asian countries are popular

Among the popular overseas tourist destinations, Asian countries such as Japan, South Korea, and Thailand are among the best.

Tongcheng Travel Platform data shows that the top three overseas destinations that Chinese tourists pay most attention to are Japan, South Korea, and Thailand. The main search users for outbound travel come from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. In user visa consultation, popular destinations are Thailand, Singapore, Japan, Malaysia, the United States, and some European Schengen visas.

Tuniu Travel Network data shows that searches for overseas destination countries such as Japan, the United States, Thailand, South Korea, and the Maldives, as well as overseas destination cities such as Phuket, Tokyo, Pattaya, Bali, and New York The popularity ranking is higher.

Ctrip data shows that Macau, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Thailand, South Korea, the United States, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia and the United Kingdom have become the top ten destinations with the fastest growing search volume.

“The current policy has become clear, and the tourism industry is facing important opportunities. Outbound tourism, which has been suppressed for a long time, will have great development, and the first benefit may be from Southeast Asia and other countries with relatively loose policies and close distances. . Judging from the time, outbound tourism is likely to fully resume during May Day next year,” Yang Yanfeng, director of the Online Tourism Research Center of Beijing Union University, told a reporter from China Business Daily.

“Tourists from Mainland China contribute a lot to international travel in Asia. Currently, the recovery of international tourist volume from Mainland China is less than 5%. The absence of Chinese tourists has to some extent caused the weak increase in tourism prices in Asia. Subsequently With the gradual liberalization of outbound travel and favorable policies coupled with favorable prices, I believe these areas will be the first to welcome Chinese tourists," said Fang Zeqian.

Air ticket prices are expected to fall

Although the total number of outbound travel has been sluggish since the outbreak, the per capita consumption of outbound travel has increased instead of falling. Ctrip data shows that in the past six months, the per capita expenditure on outbound air tickets and high-star hotels from the mainland has increased by 64% and 40% respectively compared with 2019 before the epidemic.

Lan Xiang, director of the Qunar Big Data Research Institute, believes that compared with the average price before the epidemic in 2019, the current international air ticket prices are still at a high level, and it will still take some time for the overall international flights to return to normal levels. . "The adjustment of entry and exit policies will help promote the orderly resumption of international flights, and the number of inbound and outbound passengers will rebound in the short term. As the supply and demand relationship for entry and exit air tickets gradually normalizes, the overall price of international air tickets will gradually decrease." Lan Xiang said .

An OTA platform practitioner told a reporter from China Business Daily: “The price of outbound travel tickets is higher than the average level before the epidemic, mainly because the supply of air tickets has been small since the epidemic, and the inbound and outbound flights of major airlines The number is basically not saturated. When the number of flights increases, the price can come down." Fang Zeqian, an industry analyst at Ctrip Research Institute, believes that with the recovery of the tourism supply side, and the global major economies. With the control of inflation, the overall air ticket and hotel prices for outbound travel are expected to fall back to pre-epidemic levels in 2019; however, there are still short-term constraints due to the recovery of supply-side facilities and manpower, so it will still take some time for prices to fall.

Lin Zhijie, an insider in the civil aviation industry, said that the policy has benefited the international route market from both supply and demand ends. It took half a year for the recovery rate of international passenger flights to recover from 2.5% in May this year to the current 7.8%. It is expected to rise next year. The "blood recovery" speed will at least double in half a year. For airlines, if restrictions on international flights are fully relaxed, fares will fall further and the oversupply situation in the domestic market may be alleviated.