China’s post-COVID-19 travel industry sees green shoots with tourists embracing short trips, luxury stays
As the psychological effect of pandemic still lingers, tourists are keeping travel to a minimum and choosing destinations around big cities
In China's post-Covid-19 tourism market, short-distance travelling and luxury holidays are leading the rebound, while tour groups and business trips are declining, according to industry players.
As the country's US$1 trillion tourism industry slowly gets back on its feet after taking a massive hit from the coronavirus outbreak, the shape of its recovery could provide lessons for the rest of the world still struggling with the pandemic.
"The coronavirus will have a profound and long-standing effect on the global tourism industry," said Qian Jiannong, chairman and chief executive of Fosun Tourism, in an recent interview with the South China Morning Post. "Different segments and regions in the market will diverge in their future performance, and this will lead to great structural opportunities."
More than half of China's tourism firms said their incomes plunged by 75 per cent in the first half of 2020 from a year earlier year, according to a survey of 1,154 respondents carried out by tourism industry consultancy Horwath HTL in July. Hong Kong-listed Fosun Tourism, which owns the French holiday resort chain Club Med, reported a 50 per cent decline in revenue to 4.5 billion yuan (US$658 million) last week.
