An evening in China’s Guizhou province on the Cliff Hotel, pictured here, starts around $83, in accordance with Trip.com, which says the hotel was in-built 2023 with 34 rooms.
Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images
BEIJING — Chinese travelers are increasingly choosing cheaper domestic destinations over foreign tourist spots.
Only 14% of high-income households that traveled internationally last yr plan to go abroad again in 2024, in accordance with a survey released this month by consulting firm Oliver Wyman. The segment covers families in mainland China earning at the least 30,000 yuan a month ($4,140, or about $50,000 a yr).
The highest reason for preferring their home country was “abundant domestic travel options,” the survey found, followed by “too costly” international travel.
The typical cost per person for traveling inside mainland China is lower than 1,000 yuan, versus several thousand yuan for a visit to Hong Kong or Japan, Oliver Wyman said.
Local tourism has been a vivid spot in China’s recovery from Covid-19 controls that resulted in late 2022. Travel booking site Trip.com said that in 2023, bookings for rural destinations in China grew by 2.6 times versus pre-pandemic levels.
During a public holiday this yr from May 1 to May 5, domestic tourism trips and revenue surged versus pre-pandemic levels in 2019, official data showed. International trips were barely below 2019 levels, in accordance with CNBC evaluation of official figures.
Inside mainland China, smaller cities similar to Yangzhou, Luoyang, Qinhuangdao, Guilin and Zibo saw the fastest growth in tourism bookings throughout the May holiday, Oliver Wyman said.
“This yr, domestic tourism will surpass pre-pandemic levels,” said Ashley Dudarenok, founding father of China digital consultancy ChoZan.
She expects recovery in Chinese traveling internationally to take longer, partly as “the sensation that the remaining of the world is mad and unsafe is even higher than in 2023.”
In contrast, a record number of individuals within the U.S. within the last two years have applied for passports to travel abroad. A Skyscanner report said 85% of U.S. travelers plan to take at the least as many international trips this yr as in 2023, if no more.
U.S. and Chinese officials held a summit in Xi’an city last week to advertise tourism between the 2 countries.
The moment you go viral you should have hundreds of tourists at your doorsteps.
Ashley Dudarenok
ChoZan, founder
It’s unclear as to what extent tourist interest in less developed parts of China will persist, and whether it is going to translate into sustainable growth. However the near-term impact on some localities is important.
The southern Guangxi autonomous region, home to Guilin’s famous limestone hills, issued a plan for enhancing consumption this yr by increasing publicity and tourist subsidies.
In the primary quarter, officials said the region’s tourism revenue rose by nearly 24% yr on yr to 258.18 billion yuan. Local authorities said performing arts subsidies from the local governments helped generate 48.3 million yuan in ticket sales to 230,000 people, stimulating about 460 million yuan in economic activity.
About 2.5-hour-long flight to the east of Guangxi is the Nanjing city wall tourist site. It received nearly 1.3 million visitors in the primary quarter, generating a revenue of 19.2 million yuan — double that of 2019, in accordance with local media.
Competition for media eyeballs
Local governments outside China’s big cities have been stepping up their efforts to draw tourists, primarily through social media.
Guangxi officials earlier this month said its promotional videos on apps similar to ByteDance’s Douyin and Xiaohongshu, known in English as “Little Red Book” or “Red,” had thousands and thousands of viewers.
“They struggle to go viral, they struggle to involve their community, cultural heritage, put all of it online,” Dudarenok said. “The moment you go viral you should have hundreds of tourists at your doorsteps.”
People have flocked to the town of Zibo within the eastern province of Shandong after its barbecue skewer culture took off on social media last yr. Similarly, three million visitors poured into Harbin city over the three-day Latest 12 months’s Eve holiday after its ice sculptures and unique northern customs gained traction on social media.
TV Shows featuring specific regions have also helped boost tourism.
Because of a television drama set in Altay, the distant a part of Xinjiang province within the far west saw a nearly 38% surge in visitors from a yr ago throughout the first three days of this yr’s May holiday, in accordance with iQiyi, which released the mini-series.
“The TV shows are an amazing draw,” Dudarenok said, adding that “food is at all times an important reason for Chinese tourists to travel.”
China’s expansive network of high-speed trains and flights has made it easier for people to go to small towns, even for just two or three days.
Domestic air ticket bookings on Trip.com surged by 30% in the primary quarter from a yr ago, the corporate said last week. It noted that Chinese consumers are actually placing greater emphasis on “emotional success,” prompting interest in personalized trips.
“Intensifying marketing efforts in lots of provinces effectively encouraged travelers to explore diverse destinations,” Trip.com management said on its earnings call, in accordance with a FactSet transcript.
Businesses and native governments are collaborating in other ways to spice up attention, if not revenue.
Officials from tourist spots and native governments have reached out to Miss Tourism Asia pageant for promotions, said Yang Hua, president of the organizing committee.
“Immediately, China’s domestic tourism industry is comparatively scattered,” Yang said in Mandarin, translated by CNBC. He hopes to create destination-specific events for cities that may attract visitors for the subsequent several years.
Miss Tourism Asia filmed a promotional fashion video last yr of contestants within the desert around Xinjiang’s Aral city, and held the pageant’s finals on Jan. 1, 2024, within the southern city of Dongguan in Guangzhou province.
Chinese consumers’ current preference for domestic travel signifies that a full recovery in international travel to 2019 levels likely won’t come until late 2025, half a yr later than previously forecast, in accordance with Oliver Wyman.
Within the longer-term, Dudarenok expects that international tourist destinations might want to upgrade their experience to match the rise of fashionable, modern hotels and other travel services in China.
“Chinese tourists [are] not really easy to please,” she said.
— CNBC’s Greg Iacurci and Yulia Jiang contributed to this report.
