A night in China’s Guizhou province at the Cliff Hotel, pictured here, starts at about $83, according to Trip.com, which says the 34-room hotel was built in 2023.
Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images
BEIJING – Chinese travelers are increasingly choosing cheaper domestic destinations over overseas tourist destinations.
Only 14% of high-income households who traveled abroad in the past year plan to travel abroad again in 2024, according to a survey released this month by consulting firm Oliver Wyman. The segment covers households in mainland China earning at least 30,000 yuan per month (US$4,140, or about US$50,000 per year).
The top reason for preferring one’s home country was the “abundance of domestic travel options,” followed by “too expensive” international travel, according to the survey.
According to Oliver Wyman, the average cost of travel in mainland China per person is less than 1,000 yuan, compared with several thousand yuan for a trip to Hong Kong or Japan.
Local tourism has been a bright spot in China’s recovery from Covid-19 control, which ended at the end of 2022. Travel booking site Trip.com reported that in 2023 the number of orders for rural destinations in China increased by 2.6 times compared to pre-pandemic levels.
During this year’s public holiday from May 1st to 5th, domestic tourism travel and revenue increased from pre-pandemic levels in 2019, official data showed. International travel was slightly below 2019 levels, according to a CNBC analysis. official figures.
In mainland China, small cities such as Yangzhou, Luoyang, Qinhuangdao, Guilin and Zibo saw the fastest growth in tourism bookings during the May holiday, according to Oliver Wyman.
“Domestic tourism will exceed pre-pandemic levels this year,” said Ashley Dudarenok, founder of Chinese digital technology consultancy ChoZan.
She expects the number of Chinese traveling abroad will take longer to recover, in part because “the feeling that the rest of the world is crazy and unsafe is even stronger than in 2023.”
In contrast, a record number of people in the United States have applied for passports to travel abroad over the past two years. Skyscanner report said 85% of U.S. travelers plan to take at least as much international travel this year as they did in 2023, if not more.
Representatives of the USA and China held a summit in Xi’an last week to promote tourism between two countries.
The moment you go viral, thousands of tourists will arrive at your doorstep.
Ashley Dudarenok
Chozan, founder
It is unclear to what extent tourism interest in less developed parts of China will continue and whether it will lead to sustainable growth. However, the short-term impact on some communities is significant.
Southern Autonomous Region of Guangxi, home to Guilin’s famous limestone hillspublished a plan to increase consumption this year by increasing advertising and tourism subsidies.
Officials said the region’s tourism revenue rose nearly 24% year on year to 258.18 billion yuan in the first quarter. Local authorities said subsidies for performing arts from local governments helped generate 48.3 million yuan in ticket sales from 230,000 people, stimulating economic activity of about 460 million yuan.
About 2.5 hours flight east of Guangxi is the Nanjing City Wall tourist site. It attracted nearly 1.3 million visitors in the first quarter, generating revenue of 19.2 million yuan, double that of 2019, according to the company. local media.
Competition for media attention
Local governments outside China’s major cities are stepping up their efforts to attract tourists, primarily through social media.
Earlier this month, Guangxi officials said their promotional videos for apps such as ByteDance’s Douyin and Xiaohongshu, known in English as “Little Red Book” or “Red”, had attracted millions of viewers.
“They’re trying to go viral, they’re trying to engage their community, their cultural heritage, put it all on the Internet,” Dudarenok said. “The moment you go viral, you will have thousands of tourists on your doorstep.”
People flocked to the city of Zibo in the eastern province of Shandong after the barbecue spit culture spread on social media last year. Likewise, three million visitors flocked to the city of Harbin over the three-day New Year holiday after its ice sculptures and unique northern customs went viral on social media.
TV programs focusing on specific regions have also contributed to the development of tourism.
Thanks to the TV drama set in Altai, a remote part of Xinjiang province in the far west increase in visitors by almost 38% a year ago, during the first three days of this year’s May holiday, according to iQiyi, which released the miniseries.
“TV shows are a big draw for tourists,” Dudarenok said, adding that “food is always the most important reason for Chinese tourists to travel.”
China’s extensive network of high-speed trains and planes has made it easier for people to visit smaller cities, even for two or three days.
Booking domestic flights to Trip.com grew 30% in the first quarter from a year earlier, the company said last week. It notes that Chinese consumers now place greater emphasis on “emotional satisfaction,” which is driving interest in personalized travel experiences.
“Increased marketing efforts in many provinces have effectively encouraged travelers to explore a variety of destinations,” Trip.com management said in its earnings report, according to a FactSet transcript.
Businesses and local governments are collaborating in other ways to attract attention, if not increase revenue.
Representatives of tourism destinations and local governments have approached the Miss Tourism Asia pageant asking for the promotion, said Yang Hua, president of the organizing committee.
“Currently, China’s domestic tourism industry is relatively scattered,” Yang said in Chinese translated by CNBC. He hopes to create special events for cities to attract visitors over the next few years.
Last year, Miss Tourism Asia filmed a fashion promotional video featuring contestants in the desert around the Aral city of Xinjiang, and held the pageant finals on Jan. 1, 2024, in the southern city of Dongguan in Guangzhou province.
According to Oliver Wyman, Chinese consumers’ current preference for domestic travel means a full recovery in international travel to 2019 levels will likely not occur until the end of 2025, six months later than previously forecast.
In the long term, Dudarenok expects international tourism destinations will need to improve their service quality to match the growth of stylish, modern hotels and other travel services in China.
“Chinese tourists [are] not easy to please,” she said.
—CNBC’s Greg Iacurci and Julia Jiang contributed to this report.