Busy week for us as Vivienne Song is in town, bringing us more China outbound travel news snippets #chinesetravelwhispers

1. China Eastern Airlines has announced that it will resume flights from London Gatwick to Shanghai, from 26th June. The airline will operate four flights per week departing UK on Mon/Wed/Fri/Sun.

2. A Chinese ticketing specialist in London told us this week that he is seeing a huge boom in small family groups and FIT travel this summer, with so much business coming through it is almost too much to cope with.

3. Travelling as a small family group to the UK is an expensive trip. One Chinese agent estimated to us this week that for a 2 ad/1 child, one week to UK would cost around 100,000 RMB (around £11k). Plus spending money, of course. These visitors are wealthy.

4. A study on Douyin (Chinese TikTok), has revealed that over 400 million users watched travel and tourism-related videos on the platform in the first quarter of 2023. Additionally, the number of content creators producing travel-related content on Douyin was the second-highest compared to other industries with more than 38,000 travel content creators, 30% more than last year. 

5. In WeChat’s top-ranking accounts from 27 May 27 to 2 June, the British Museum secured the third position in the category of attractions and museums. Hong Kong Disneyland took the first spot, followed by MOMA, New York.

6. Advance reservations for domestic and international travel are on the rise in China. Popular tourist destinations include Hong Kong, Macao, Tokyo, Osaka, Singapore, Bangkok, Seoul, London, and Paris, according to Trip.

7. Getting an appointment in China (and in UK) for a Schengen visa is very tricky at the moment. We have even heard (unconfirmed) rumours that there’s a black market emerging for buying appointments! All good news for the UK as many tourists and international students are switching plans away from Europe as a result.

8. Applications for China’s outbound travel visas to the Schengen region are increasing rapidly, and 70% of them are for business visas.

9. The Chinese student market continues to boom. We urge you not to ignore this affluent and travel-hungry segment when planning for this summer. Chinese students will use their holiday to explore the UK and Europe.

10. At Guanxi, we are planning Chinese influencer trips for the rest of this year. If you have an attraction or activity, particularly if it is in London or on the East Coast of England/Scotland, and you’d like to be included in the plan, please let us know. There would normally be a financial contribution requested, but the more partners we have, the better value we can offer. 

Finally, don’t forget we are delivering the UKinbound China Welcome workshop in Warwickshire on 3rd July at the British Motor Museum with Shakespeare’s England. Do come along if you can. Booking link below. https://lnkd.in/eGBraDfS