Chinese tourists are ready to travel abroad again, but...
China announced this week it will drop quarantine requirements for international arrivals and resume outbound travel for Chinese citizens, which had previously been banned. It led to a surge of eager travelers booking flights out of the country, hungry for a trip after several years of isolation -- but it also raised concern among some overseas governments as China battles its biggest-ever outbreak, after abandoning its stringent zero-Covid approach and partially reopening its border three years into the pandemic.
Before the pandemic, China was the world's largest market for outbound travel, having skyrocketed from 4.5 million travelers in 2000 to 150 million in 2018. The country is also the world's largest spender, accounting for $277 billion or 16% of the world's total $1.7 trillion international tourism spending, according to the UN's World Tourism Organization. China alone contributed 51% of the travel and tourism GDP in the Asia-Pacific region in 2018, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council. Thailand’s total visitor arrivals in 2018 were driven by a 30% inflow from Chinese travelers.
Almost half of the 212 passengers who arrived in Italy's Milan airport from China on the day after Christmas tested positive for Covid. As a result, Italy has imposed new rules requiring travelers from China - making it mandatory to undergo a COVID-19 test upon arrival in Italy, and to quarantine in case their result is positive. Other tests with negative results are required to be performed in order to end isolation. In February 2020, during the breakout of the pandemic, Italy was the worst-hit European country with thousands dead within weeks. Since then, the country has confirmed a total of 24.9 million COVID-19 related cases as per the World Health Organisation.
Joining Italy in moves to impose restrictions are countries such as the US and Japan. Spain now requires a negative test for Covid-19 or proof of full vaccination for visitors arriving from China. The UK meanwhile is pondering what new rules to bring in. The measures are particularly remarkable given that most of these places, especially in the West - have long reopened their borders and abandoned testing requirements as part of the transition to living with Covid.
By contrast, many countries have thrown open their doors in welcome. The tourism departments and embassies of France, Thailand, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Austria and Switzerland all posted messages on Weibo, China's version of Twitter, inviting Chinese tourists.
Hospitality Sri Lanka
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