Macau among Guangdong’s travel wish list for after Covid-19

Macau-style Portuguese egg tarts, a popular snack for visitors to the city

Macau ranks among the top five most anticipated tourism destinations for Guangdong residents for the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a survey by Chinese online tourism company Ctrip.

The company recently issued the 2020 Destination Wish List Report based on the travel plans and preferences of mainland residents for once the Covid-19 pandemic is under control.

This report included a category for extra-short-haul trips, which are cities very close to the travelers’ place of residence. Those living around Guangzhou ranked Macau, Huizhou, Zhuhai, Zhanjiang, and Guilin as their top five choices in this category.

Those living around Guangzhou also showed a strong preference for short-
distance travel over long-haul trips.

Beijing and Shanghai residents also seem to prefer extra-short-haul travel. According to the survey, Beijing residents would prefer to visit Tianjin, Qinhuangdao, Zhangjiakou, Baoding and Jinan. Meanwhile, Huzhou, Huangshan, Lishui, Suzhou and Hangzhou are the most popular among Shanghai’s residents. 

The most coveted cities among the general public in China are Sanya, Chengdu and Guizhou, followed by Shanghai, Xi’an, Beijing, Xiamen, and Hangzhou.

For family tourism and shopping, travelers from the mainland selected the U.K., Germany, Dubai and Canada as their top picks. Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia are the most sought-after places to enjoy beach getaways while Morocco, Abu Dhabi, and Brazil are the most popular exotic holiday destinations.

Previously, the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau were often among the most popular overseas destinations for mainland China residents.

However, some Chinese and international travel companies have previously been criticized by Chinese-speaking netizens, who labelled these entities “separatist” after they failed to include Macau and Hong Kong under their China listing. In the aftermath of previous incidents, Ctrip made changes to its destination groupings.

In mainland China, the term “overseas” refers to anywhere outside of mainland China’s territory, meaning that both Macau and Hong Kong used to be referred to as overseas places due to the fact that there are borders between the mainland and these two cities.

Previously, Hong Kong and Macau belonged to an overseas category on Ctrip but are now classified under the domestic category. It is not known whether the pressure from netizens led to the relocation of Hong Kong and Macau from the overseas destinations list. JZ