Travelers eager to venture overseas after three years

Best performance

A report from online platform Trip.com Group on Jan 27 showed that domestic and international travel bookings reached a three-year peak during Spring Festival, with overall reservations from tourists rising fourfold compared with same period last year.

Fang Zeqian, an analyst at Trip.com Group, said, "As the first Spring Festival since the pandemic, and with people no longer confined to their homes, the tourism market delivered its best performance for three years, with large groups of people flying out of the country."

To meet growing demand, Trip.com Group launched nearly 700 outbound tours covering 15 destination countries or regions.

Fang said that in the past three years, many Chinese restaurants abroad closed and tour guides changed their careers, so it would take time for overseas ground service providers to reorganize themselves after receiving approval to resume services.

"The recovery of the outbound tour group market will also take a while. We predict that from this month onward, the number of outbound tours and bookings will rise significantly, and there will be a noticeable market surge by the May Day holiday," Fang said.

During the Chinese New Year holiday, the majority of early bookings were made by people born in the 1980s or 1990s, including Wu Jianshu, 30, a cultural and arts industry worker from Zhuhai, Guangdong province.

One week before Spring Festival, Wu booked an appointment to renew his passport, obtaining the travel document three to five days before Lunar New Year. He chose to visit Turkiye.

"We were excited but a bit nervous before leaving for Turkiye, as one of our family members was worried about facing unexpected incidents or problems abroad after being isolated from the world for three years," Wu said.

On arrival in Istanbul, the family quickly settled into a routine, without taking any additional protective measures.

"Generally speaking, life in Turkiye had returned to normal for most people, and I noticed locals who could speak a few words of Mandarin greeting visitors from China," Wu said.

The family spent four days in Istanbul before taking a road trip along Turkiye's southern and western coasts.

"Previously, I focused on my own interests during my travels, especially those related to my work in the arts industry. I often ventured to lesser-known areas of the cities I visited to experience local life," Wu said.

The essence of international travel for Wu lies in immersing himself in authentic everyday experiences of a foreign culture. He usually plans a 10-15-day itinerary for an overseas trip, during which he visits one or two cities at a leisurely pace.

During a trip to Thailand several years ago, he met a foreign friend who said, "I'll return home once I finish reading this novel." This statement caused Wu to change his perspective toward travel.

"I've come to appreciate the value of taking a slower, more relaxed approach to travel, allowing myself more time to truly absorb and experience the culture and lifestyle of the places I visit," he said.

During the past three years, Wu traveled to destinations in China once every one or two months, despite restrictions imposed due to COVID-19. He visited different places to stay in uniquely designed hotels or to attend exhibitions.

He intends to visit London during the May Day holiday to explore the city's museums and art galleries.

Data from Trip.com Group show Spring Festival reservations to the Indonesian resort island of Bali rose by 30 times year-on-year, while those to Singapore rose by more than eight times.

Reservations to Manila, capital of the Philippines, were up fivefold, and to the Thai destinations of Bangkok and Phuket more than fourfold. Bookings for Chiang Mai, Thailand, and Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian capital, rose by nearly three times.

To avoid crowds in Southeast Asia, Zhang Da, 25, who comes from Beijing, opted to visit Dubai, United Arab Emirates, with his father during Spring Festival — Zhang's first overseas trip for three years.

"After the optimized measures were announced, many people in Beijing tested positive for COVID-19, so I started planning the trip about a week in advance. However, I felt I was not as good at making such preparations as I used to be," said Zhang, who works in the cross-border e-commerce clothing industry.

Graduating from Bentley University in Boston, United States, in 2020, when the pandemic emerged, Zhang chose to return home instead of continuing his further education overseas.

He faced a range of problems, including expensive flights, lengthy hotel quarantine periods, and difficulty transporting his pet cat.

"Since I hadn't left China for overseas trips in the past three years, I was eager to relax in a different environment during Spring Festival," Zhang said.

An unforgettable moment for him was watching the sunset from one of the world's highest swimming pools.

This year, Zhang plans to travel to Switzerland and Iceland.

"After the pandemic, international journeys will rekindle my passion for travel by enabling me to focus solely on the trip and forget about the stresses and strains of everyday life," said Zhang, who used to travel overseas two or three times a year before COVID-19 emerged.