China’s tourism sector begins recovery
In China The situation with the spread of the coronavirus COVID-19 stabilized, and interest in finding and booking air tickets around the country became noticeable.
Chinese citizens can travel for business and tourist purposes using the Health Code system.
The analytical service ADARA analyzed information on bookings of flights and hotels in China for 2020.
Compared to bookings in early January, when 38% of airline tickets were booked with a depth of up to 15 days, the share rose to 58%. Most bookings are made for business travel (38% in mid-March vs 20% in early January).
“This is evidence of a large deferred demand: people are looking to get back to work,” said Carolyn Korda, marketing director at ADARA.
“Tourism is showing more modest results so far, but the very awareness of people and companies that they (or their employees) can safely move around the country suggests that this will soon be a turning point in the positive direction.”
After the fall in February, the total global volume of searches for flights to and from China rose 29% in the second week of March compared to the first week.
The volume of bookings of tickets from China abroad does not show growth - this is due to the restrictive measures of the Chinese authorities, and the fact that most foreign destinations have now imposed restrictions on Chinese tourists.
“The recovery, which began in March, will help global travel brands understand the speed of shifts in travel behavior as the epidemic in a particular destination declines,” ADARA said.
Citizens can freely travel around the country, provided that they use a digital QR code "Health Code", which is voluntarily received by any smartphone user - it means different levels of admission - on board an aircraft, a train.
The code is available inside the WeChat messenger, the AliPay wallet and other services - the programs analyze the epidemiological situation in the country and overlay the movements of the user over the past two weeks.
If a person has recently returned from an unsafe country, city or neighborhood, the system will show the appropriate color code.
In Shanghai, depending on the color of the Health Code, different levels of restrictions are applied to a person: green - free movement, yellow - you need an independent weekly quarantine, you can not enter public places and transport. Red is a 14-day quarantine at home and daily temperature measurement.
“Health Code” in China may be required for registration at the place of residence, in public transport, medical institutions, offices, etc.
Source: atorus