What if China reopens?
Pre-pandemic, China was the world’s largest outbound travel market. In 2019, 169.2 million outbound journeys were recorded, up from 47.6 million in 2009. China was the most valuable market for international tourism expenditure, spending over US$254bn abroad in 2019.
Although Chinese travellers turned to domestic travel during the pandemic, the number of outbound trips is set to rebound as borders reopen. The thirst to travel and spend exists but the focus has shifted to more personalised experiences.
It is expected outbound travel in China would return to pre-pandemic levels in early 2024 to reach its pre-COVID-19 potential of 240 million earliest by the end of 2025.