10 things we’ve heard about Chinese travel this week. #chinesetravelwhispers
1. Hainan Airlines is relaunching direct flights between Edinburgh and Beijing from 26th June. The programme is due to run throughout the summer twice weekly, until 8th October.
2. Twice weekly Dublin to Beijing Hainan Airlines flights are also restarting from 27th June, to run until 7th October.
3. Sustainable travel is shooting up the agenda. The travel trade and media in China are actively looking to support products and services which fulfil a post-pandemic demand for sustainable solutions.
4. Asia Pacific hotels have been the first to benefit from the return of Chinese tourists, as short haul flights recovered very quickly once the borders opened in January. Hotel occupancy for Q1 in the APAC region outpaced Q1 2019 by 5% according to Amadeus. This is a good indication of what will happen in longer haul destinations now flight prices are reducing.
5. There are now 60 direct flights per week to London from mainland China. In terms of recovery of flight schedules, London is outperforming some of its European competitors; Paris currently has only 19 flights per week.
6. The Chinese government issued a new policy earlier this year which means that online only degree courses from foreign institutions will not be recognised. This is resulting in students flocking back overseas to their universities to study in person.
7. Destination Britain China is now open for registration here. The dates are 22-24 November 23 and it will be held in Shanghai.
8. We are still waiting for the third official list to be issued which we expect to permit group package travel back to the UK. Agents are holding waiting lists of customers in readiness for the announcement. Don’t forget, this does not affect FIT travel.
9. Liz Truss’s trip to Taiwan this week is unlikely to help things in general. There have been no official remarks so far from the Chinese Foreign Ministry but state media is unimpressed.
10. Our Chinese Director, Vivienne Song, is visiting the UK this month and will be travelling through London, York, Durham, Newcastle, Lincoln and down to Brighton to spend a couple of days with the team in the office. Hopefully, she will catch up with a few of you along the way. She is so excited to be back in the UK after four long years and we can’t wait to see her!
Finally, there has been lots of publicity and pressure in the British media this last couple of weeks for the government to rethink its decision on tax free shopping for international visitors. At Guanxi, we would just like to thank everyone who has spoken out and given their time to this issue and to those journalists who have covered the story. Let’s just hope good economic sense prevails.