Visa snags, costs delay revival in overseas trips by Chinese

Surge in domestic travel, belt-tightening exert toll on global travel-related players

A recovery in Chinese overseas travel from the Covid-19 pandemic is fading as rising costs and difficulties in securing visas cement a preference for local and short-haul destinations.

The delay in a revival to pre-Covid levels by China’s outbound travellers, the world’s top spenders on international tourism and airlines, is hitting travel-related companies, hotels and retailers globally.

Eighteen months after China dropped strict zero-Covid policies and reopened its borders, the recovery in overseas travel is lagging behind market expectations and the shape of Chinese travel is changing, with a surge in domestic trips.

Pressured by a prolonged property crisis, high unemployment and a gloomy outlook in the world’s second-biggest economy, Chinese consumers have become more frugal since the pandemic, prompting discount wars on everything from travel to cars, coffee and clothes.

Chinese people took 87 million trips abroad in 2023, down 40 per cent from pre-Covid-19 levels, and industry observers say the pace has slowed since Chinese New Year in February. China’s travellers spent 24 per cent less in 2023 than in 2019, while US travellers’ spending was up 14 per cent, according to UN tourism data.

The Chinese lag is bad news for countries like France, Australia and the US, which were among the top destinations for Chinese travellers before the pandemic.