international

May Day air travel back in business

Tourists flock to the Louvre Museum in Paris on May 3. FENG YONGBIN/CHINA DAILY

Travel abroad was popular for Chinese tourists during the recent May Day holiday, and they traveled further to some niche destinations like Saudi Arabia, in addition to traditional hot spots like Southeast Asia, industry players said.

During the five-day holiday that lasted from May 1 to Sunday, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore were among the top 10 overseas destinations for Chinese travelers, as the latter three Southeast Asian countries all adopted visa-free entries for Chinese visitors, said Qunar, a Beijing-based online travel agency.

The total booking volumes of international flights and overseas hotels for the May Day holiday both hit new highs on the platform, Qunar said.

Saudi Arabia, Spain, Hungary, France, Austria and Italy saw significant growth in the number of travel product bookings on a yearly basis. In addition, some Chinese tourists booked trips to Murmansk, Russia; Athens and Santorini in Greece; as well as some smaller cities in Spain and Portugal, the agency said.

“For traditional popular overseas destinations such as Japan, France, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, Chinese travelers are no longer satisfied with simple sightseeing, and increasingly have been exploring small towns in-depth,” said Xiao Peng, a researcher with Qunar’s big data research institute.

Chinese visitors arrived at Burgundy, France — a renowned wine cultivation region — or Otaru, Japan, the movie-shooting backdrop for the Japanese hit film Love Letter. They also visited Zermatt, Switzerland, where travelers can go skiing all year round, and even Recife, Brazil, hometown of former soccer star Rivaldo, Xiao said.

Outbound tours organized in small groups and with flexible schedules were popular among Chinese travelers, and they preferred self-guided tours for short-haul trips and group tours for long-haul trips, said Tuniu, an online travel agency.

For instance, travelers mainly booked packages that included both flight tickets and hotels, and took self-guided tours in places such as the Maldives, Bali Island of Indonesia, Singapore and Japan, Tuniu found.

During the May Day holiday, cruises were also sought after by Chinese consumers. Many voyages that departed from Shanghai to Fukuoka, Japan, as well as from Shanghai to Okinawa, Japan, were nearly sold out, Tuniu said.

09/05/2024 by Rummy news

2024 ZGC Forum opens in Beijing

Guests exchange views before the opening ceremony of the Zhongguancun Forum, in Beijing, on April 25, 2024. [Photo by Wang Zhuangfei/chinadaily.com.cn]

The opening ceremony of the 2024 Zhongguancun Forum Annual Conference was held in Beijing on Thursday.

Under the theme “Innovation: Building a Better World,” the forum is attended by more than 150 foreign government departments and international organizations from over 100 countries and regions.

27/04/2024 by Rummy news

Chinese airlines planning increasing number of cross-border flights, as hot tourism season kicks off

Passengers line up to board the plane to Macao at Beijing Daxing International Airport on April 1, 2024. Photo: Courtesy of China Southern Airlines

Driven by improved travel policies, Chinese airlines are planning more flights to draw travelers as the summer-autumn flight season began on Sunday, as aviation data showed that inbound and outbound travel has now recovered to hitting 80 percent of 2019 levels.

China Southern Airlines launches a direct route flying from Beijing Daxing International Airport to Macao on Monday, a move to further ramp up overseas flights driven by the rising demand.

China Southern said the route will operate three times per week between April 1 to 24, with the frequency to increase to daily flights from April 25. The airline said it will boost the capacity input for more overseas routes.

China Southern currently has launched 13 direct overseas routes from Beijing Daxing to cities such as London and Amsterdam and is considering routes from Beijing Daxing to Tehran and Riyadh.

As the summer and autumn season started on Sunday, Chinese airlines are improving their international route networks and increasing the number of international flights.

Air China said it will fly 448 routes during the new season, including 108 overseas routes, of which flights input to the Europe will be higher than that of in 2019.

Also, the carrier will increase the frequencies from Beijing to cities such as Los Angeles, New York, and Frankfurt.

China Eastern Airlines, along with its subsidiaries Shanghai Airlines, China United Airlines and OTT Airlines, will operate more than 1,240 overseas flights per week on average, recovering to 90.8 percent of the same period in 2019. New routes, such as Shanghai-Riyadh and to Vienna have also been newly launched.

Currently, the overseas flights operated by China Southern have returned to more than 900 flights per week, representing a recovery to more than 80 percent of pre-epidemic levels. In addition to the two international routes that will soon be launched at Beijing Daxing airport, China Southern said it will also launch routes from Guangzhou to Doha, Shenzhen to Mexico City, and Shenzhen to Riyad, aiming to return to 85 percent of pre-epidemic levels by the end of the year.

The accelerated resumption of international routes has driven the growth of inbound and outbound passenger traffic.

According to the information provider VariFlight, from March 1-March 24, the actual number of inbound and outbound flights has exceeded 42,000, of which domestic airlines have transported more than 3.8 million inbound and outbound passengers, recovering to about 80 percent in the same period in 2019.

Observers stated that coming holidays such as the Qingming Festival and May Day holidays will further boost the travel market.

Also, the improvement in visa policy facilitation has also led to a rebound in inbound and outbound tourism.

To date, China has inked mutual visa exemption agreements covering different types of passports with 157 countries, reached agreements or arrangements on simplified visa procedures with 44 countries and enjoyed comprehensive mutual visa exemptions with 23 countries, including Thailand, Singapore, the Maldives and UAE, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in January.

Global Times

05/04/2024 by Rummy news

Chinese airlines in narrowed financial losses expand overseas routes as summer-autumn flight season starts

A plane lands in an airport in Chengdu, Southwest China's Sichuan Province. Photo: VCG

A plane lands in an airport in Chengdu, Southwest China’s Sichuan Province. Photo: VCG

Chinese airlines, which reported narrowed financial losses, are expanding their overseas routes as the summer-autumn flight season begins on Sunday. This comes amid a series of support measures including visa-free policies aimed at boosting tourism.

China Eastern Airlines, along with its subsidiaries Shanghai Airlines, China United Airlines and OTT Airlines, will operate more than 1,240 overseas flights per week on average, recovering to 90.8 percent of the same period in 2019. New routes, such as Shanghai-Riyadh and to Vienna, have been opened.

The flight volume to Europe, Oceania, the Middle East and other places has exceeded the level of 2019. Among them, routes to Hungary, Spain, Dubai and Malaysia have far surpassed the pre-epidemic levels, reaching twice the volume seen in 2019, China Eastern said.

China Southern Airlines, along with its subsidiaries, will operate 188 overseas routes, reaching destinations including Europe, the US and Australia. A number of new overseas routes will be opened from Guangzhou to cities such as London Gatwick and Doha.

Photo: Courtesy of Beijing Daxing International Airport

Beijing Daxing International Airport announced on Friday that there will be an average of 62 international passenger flights per day in the coming season, as well as an average of 14 passenger flights per day in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. The flying network will cover 40 destinations including Hong Kong, Macao and Singapore.

The airport said it will increase international flights as the global aviation market continues to recover.

China Eastern also stated it will add eight overseas routes from Beijing Daxing International Airport in the new flight season. These routes will utilize wide-body aircraft to accommodate more passengers.

Specifically, the routes from Beijing Daxing to Moscow and Macao will increase to daily flights, and the route to Kuala Lumpur will resume on April 24.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said on Friday that it has approved a total of 122 domestic and foreign airlines’ applications for 12,656 weekly international passenger flights, covering 66 overseas countries.

Passenger flight volume continues to grow, according to the new flight seasons’ plan, said CAAC, highlighting that flights to neighboring markets such as Vietnam, Japan, Laos, Russia are rising fast.

The rapid recovery of international routes has coincided with the narrowed losses of major airlines. The losses of three giants, Air China, China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines, significantly narrowed last year.

Air China’s net loss shrank by 97 percent to 1.04 billion ($138 million) in the year ended on December 31 from the previous year, followed by narrowing losses of 87.12 percent for China Southern and narrowing losses of 78 percent for China Eastern.

Wang Zhen, who is responsible for China Southern’s marketing, said that the airline is gradually opening and resuming international flights, and it is expected that international flights will recover to more than 80 percent in the summer and autumn peak seasons of 2024, according to thepaper.cn on Saturday.

China reported 2.95 million inbound and outbound trips made by foreigners in the first two months of 2024, an increase of 2.3 times compared with the previous period and equivalent to 41.5 percent of the level prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to an official on Friday quoting data from the National Immigration Administration.

The willingness of foreigners to visit China has increased, partly thanks to a series of support measures including visa-free policies and easing of problems for foreign visitors like payment hurdles, according to the official.