The search volume for Spring Festival air tickets skyrocketed instantly! Someone has hoarded 16 of them. Is a revenge tour coming?

China-Singapore Jingwei, December 7th: On the 7th, the Comprehensive Team of the Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism of the State Council in response to the new coronavirus pneumonia epidemic issued a notice on further optimizing and implementing the prevention and control measures of the new coronavirus pneumonia epidemic. *** proposed 10 Specific matters include no longer checking nucleic acid and health codes for people traveling across regions. On the same day, the State Council Office determined the New Year’s Day holiday date.

As soon as the news of further optimization of epidemic prevention and control came out, the number of air ticket searches and B&B bookings on various online travel platforms immediately doubled. Some people couldn’t wait to start planning travel plans, and some travel enthusiasts said they were “hoarding”. The 16 air tickets finally came in handy." Many experts told Sino-Singapore Jingwei that China’s tourism market is expected to normalize in 2023.

The number of travel searches has increased dramatically, and some people have hoarded 16 air tickets and can’t wait to travel

China-Singapore Jingwei learned from Tongcheng Travel that as of 10 a.m. on the 7th, travel during New Year’s Day The search volume for air tickets increased more than five times compared with the same period the day before, and the search volume for hotels during New Year's Day increased nearly seven times compared with the same period the day before.

After the release of the above-mentioned "New Ten" prevention and control measures, Ctrip platform data showed that instant searches for air tickets surged by 160%. Among them, the search volume for air tickets on the eve of the Spring Festival surged to the highest point in three years. At the same time, the search popularity of keywords such as "New Year's Eve", "New Year's Day Travel" and "Spring Festival" have reached their peak in 2022.

It is worth noting that many tourists have also begun planning trips in 2023. As of 12:00 a.m. on the 7th, the search popularity for travel in 2023 on the Ctrip platform this week has increased by more than 900% compared with the same period last year, "reflecting users' optimistic expectations for travel in 2023." The relevant person in charge of Ctrip's business said.

After the policy was released, Ye Ning, who works in Beijing, began to communicate with friends about travel plans for the New Year's Day holiday. She told Sino-Singapore Jingwei that she had always wanted to visit Hainan before. "The recent air ticket prices are very attractive. It is just in time to feel the coconut breeze and sea charm of Hainan on New Year's Day and enjoy the joy of vacation."

However, because Ye Ning’s company’s policy on traveling out of Beijing is still very tight, she dare not book air tickets for the time being. “Now that favorable policies are emerging frequently, I feel that travel should be possible.”

“I have also made two preparations. If I can’t leave Beijing, I will go to a B&B in the suburbs of Beijing for vacation on New Year’s Day. I don’t want to stay at home anymore. I plan to keep an eye on the air ticket price to Hainan and Beijing at the same time these two days. Booking status of B&Bs in the suburbs,” Ye Ning said.

“If the epidemic prevention and control conditions permit, I plan to go to Wenzhou Yandang Mountain on New Year’s Day, because the air ticket to Wenzhou I have stored will expire on January 8, 2023, and it will be wasted if I don’t go.” Lives in Beijing Lu Fei, a travel enthusiast, told Sino-Singapore Jingwei.

According to Lu Fei, he would stock up on one or two sets of round-trip air tickets when the airline was doing events. Sometimes when flights were canceled due to the epidemic, he would accumulate air tickets, and he had accumulated them without knowing it. There are 8 sets of 16 air tickets. “The travel policy has been ‘relaxed’ and these air tickets can finally be put to use.”

Screenshots of some of the air tickets Lu Fei accumulated were provided by the interviewee

After the enthusiasm for travel was ignited, which destinations are the most popular?

China-Singapore Jingwei noted that data from multiple OTA platforms show that Sanya, Hainan is becoming a popular destination for people to travel in winter.

Tujia B&B said that after many places in Hainan adjusted the provincial migrant policies, Hainan has become a popular destination for winter tourism and vacation, and the number of B&B inquiries has doubled. Data show that as of noon on December 6, Sanya's B&B bookings increased by nearly 30% from the previous day, and the number of single-family "small courtyard" B&Bs with swimming pools increased by 60% from the previous day.

Tujia B&B data also shows that from the B&B orders that have been placed, we can see that there will be the first small peak of occupancy on New Year's Day in 2023. From January 13 to January 20, 2013, that is, in the week before New Year's Eve, the number of bookings for Sanya B&Bs continued to rise, and the number of tourists choosing to go to Sanya during the New Year increased.

Ctrip data shows that as of 12:00 on the 7th, the top 10 most searched cities for New Year’s Day are Shanghai, Sanya, Beijing, Macau, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Nanjing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and Chongqing.

Fliggy data shows that hotel searches in major cities such as Sanya, Chongqing, and Wuhan have doubled compared with last week, and hotel bookings in Sanya have more than tripled compared with last week.

Data provided by the Mafengwo platform to Sino-Singapore Jingwei shows that searches for popular long-term travel destinations in winter such as Hainan, Yunnan, and Fujian have increased significantly. Among them, the search popularity of "Sanya vacation" increased by 450%, and Sanya became the destination with the highest increase in instant visits.

Qunar data shows that after the good news about travel was released, Sanya, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Chongqing, Harbin, and Changchun became popular destinations, and the number of searches for air tickets departing during the Spring Festival travel season reached pre-epidemic levels. Search volume for train tickets increased fivefold.

It is worth noting that China-Singapore Jingwei found that there are still some travel enthusiasts who are ready to avoid holidays and enjoy the joy of off-peak travel.

Xiaolan, who works in a media in Beijing, is one of them. She plans to travel to Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan with two friends after New Year's Day. Although one friend is currently living in a makeshift cabin due to being "positive", the other one is still teaching students online at home.

However, with the relaxation of epidemic prevention and control policies in various places, Xiaolan invited her friends to communicate online about travel plans as early as December 4. After excluding Northeast China, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Hunan and other regions, she finally reached a consensus. : Find a small town with few people and not too commercialized.

Xiaolan told Sino-Singapore Jingwei that the last time she traveled was in August 2021. Due to the epidemic and the Spring Festival holiday, she had already saved 17 days of vacation. “The three-day New Year’s Day holiday is not enough in front of these 17 days. It’s worth mentioning, so I choose to travel during off-peak hours.”

"The travel plan is 3-5 days, and my initial budget is 3,000 yuan. However, now I feel it doesn't matter. As long as I can go out, I can spend whatever I want." Xiaolan also said that it doesn't matter. I am too worried about the risk of infection, and there is no epidemic in my destination. It doesn’t matter if you are stranded due to the epidemic, “then you can still have more fun.”

However, since the two traveling partners have not yet fully determined the itinerary, Xiaolan and her friends have not yet booked air tickets or hotels.

Experts: The tourism market is expected to normalize in 2023

As epidemic prevention and control policies are gradually relaxed, what will be the direction of the tourism market?

Wu Liyun, associate professor of the Chinese Culture and Tourism Industry Research Institute of Beijing International Studies University, mentioned in an interview with Sino-Singapore Jingwei that with the optimization of epidemic prevention and control policies and the resumption of international flights, the tourism market will gradually recover. , the development of tourism is worth looking forward to.

But Wu Liyun also pointed out that the possibility of retaliatory travel in a short time is unlikely. Some people are still cautious about traveling, and people still need a period of adaptation. The next month or so may be a wait-and-see period for everyone. It is expected that by 2023, the tourism market may gradually normalize.

Jin Zhun, secretary-general of the Tourism Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told Sino-Singapore Jingwei that the entry-exit and China domestic tourism markets will normalize in 2023. He believes that the New Year's Day holiday will be the first to start restorative flows among areas where the epidemic has stabilized. A number of regional tourism highlights and hot spots will appear across the country. Spring Festival tourism will further recover. The demand for returning home for the New Year and traveling for the New Year will alternate, bringing about strong demand. tourism consumption. However, he also mentioned that this is also divided into groups. Unmarried and young people will start traveling faster, while families with elderly people and children will wait and see first.

Xie Xiaoqing, a senior researcher at Ctrip Research Institute, believes that with the optimization of epidemic prevention policies, a strong rebound in tourism consumption enthusiasm has occurred, but the actual recovery still depends on users' stable travel. Tourism merchants can seize the window of opportunity and restart the growth path after tourism recovery by launching products that meet post-epidemic market demand and expanding precision marketing potential.

Affected by the epidemic, people’s travel time has become fragmented, travel distances have become shorter, and travel budgets have shrunk. The rise of short-distance, short-term, and high-frequency "micro-tourism" and "micro-vacation" represented by local travel and peripheral travel. As restrictions on inter-provincial travel are lifted and epidemic prevention and control policies in various places are relaxed, will long-term travel make a comeback during the New Year's Day and Spring Festival holidays?

In this regard, Wu Liyun said that at present, it can be said that local tourism and long-term tourism are on the same starting line. In the past, the epidemic prevention and control policy in various places was to try not to travel across provinces, so local tourism has emerged. But now as restrictions on cross-regional movement are loosened, local tourism has lost its advantage. In the future, there may no longer be a clear difference between long-term travel and local travel. . Since the policies of various provinces, cities, and autonomous regions across the country are not yet completely synchronized, if they are fully synchronized, the recovery of long-term travel is worth looking forward to.

Jin Zhenzhen said that within a period of time, travel distances will be significantly lengthened, and popular long-distance travel destinations will emerge one after another, but local travel will still be the mainstream form of travel.