Skift Take
The Chinese are traveling, perhaps not as much as destinations would have liked them to, but the resurgence of Chinese travel brings optimism for travel businesses worldwide. It's a positive indication of recovery and a step towards normalcy in the tourism industry.
China’s three-day Dragon Boat Festival holiday that concluded Saturday showed a noticeable revival in outbound travel, as evidenced by the increasing number of border crossings.
Even though the Dragon Boat Festival is a brief national holiday in the Chinese mainland, cross-border crossings touched 65 percent of the 2019 level, according to the National Immigration Administration.
Trip.com-owned platform Ctrip noted that the average cost for outbound travel was down during the Dragon Boat holiday even as bookings have surged. A one-way air ticket was 6 percent lower than during the May Day holiday and bookings were 12 times levels a year ago.
Flight orders were up four times over the three-day New Year's Day holidays, according to Alibaba’s travel division Fliggy, indicating a significant uptick in travel demand.
Ctrip noted that Hong Kong, Bangkok, Macau, Tokyo and Singapore were the most popular destinations, with travelers spending an average of $415 per hotel booking.
Hong Kong