China’s domestic travel has recovered 90%, say experts

The tourism industry of mainland China has returned to about 90% of pre-Covid-19 levels, according to tourism experts who convened yesterday on a webinar hosted by PR Newswire.
One indicator of this recovery is the daily number of domestic flights across China. Data from the Civil Aviation Administration of China shows that the number of flights nationwide in August had returned to 90% of pre-pandemic levels, amounting to nearly 20,000 flights per day.
Moreover, the press release dissemination service provider counted the keywords used by the tourism industry so far in 2020 and discovered that “China,” “brand,” “guests” and “service” topped the list of most frequently used words.
In contrast, announcements made yesterday showed that Macau’s booking rate for hotels over the Golden Week holiday season ranged between 10% and 20% of total capacity. Airline activity in Macau is trending at a similar level.
The webinar invited four speakers from the tourism industry in mainland China, all of which are tourism writers and marketers. They expressed their views on how the tourism industry can recover from the current impact of the pandemic.
Xu Yue, lead editor of the tourism section of Phoenix New Media, cited data that supports a bright recovery for the Chinese tourism market. She pointed out that the fact that several areas of the industry, including flight and hotel bookings, have returned to 90% of their pre-pandemic levels, indicates a general recovery is underway.
Xu also pointed out that the mode of tourism in China would likely become localized, meaning that tourists will travel within their vicinity and neighboring cities, rather than between provinces.
Xia Han, vice-president of tourism portal lvmama.com, which focuses on brand building and tourist site development, said that there are a lot of tourist sites that spend millions on construction but struggle to attract tourists. This year has not been any easier, he said. Xie recommended that the industry work on brand values and offering experiences to tourists.
Similarly, Wang Dandan, deputy editor-in-chief of Chinese hotel portal meadin.com, noted that customers today are value-oriented. In response, hotels should focus more on the realization of values.
Zhou Qiyi, partner at Tripvivid.com, another tourism portal, pointed out that current tourism trends focus on the integration of experience and services. He also noted that small brands should have a greater role in the industry.