With the accelerated recovery of the mainland inbound and outbound tourism market, the tourism popularity of the "Belt and Road" countries continues to rise, and destinations in the Middle East and Central Asia have become "dark horses" with rapid growth.
Donkey mother tourism data shows that since 2023, the post-90s and post-00s have gradually grown into the "main force" of travel to destinations jointly built by the "Belt and Road", accounting for more than 60%. The relevant travel group is mainly family, followed by couples and friends traveling in groups, and the proportion of single travel has increased compared with 2019, an increase of about 14%.
It is reported that in addition to Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and other first-tier cities, Chengdu, Hangzhou, Chongqing, Nanjing, Wuhan, Zhengzhou, Xiamen, Qingdao, Tianjin, Xi'an and other popular starting points.
In terms of key destinations, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Laos, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Russia and Turkey are at the forefront.
Glory Changi Waterfall, Singapore
It is worth mentioning that since the beginning of this year, the orders for group tours and customized tours in Middle Eastern destinations such as the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Iran, and Saudi Arabia, as well as Central Asian destinations including Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, have grown the fastest compared with the same period in 2019, becoming the "dark horse" of outbound travel.
Sand safari in Qatar
Tourism is one of the important areas of exchange and cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative, and since China proposed the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013, tourism exchanges between the countries have become increasingly close and cooperation has achieved remarkable results. Regarding the growing share of the "Belt and Road" countries in China's outbound tourism market, Zou Qingling, CEO of Donkey Mother Travel Network, said that the popularity of related destinations is due to flight resumption and visa facilitation.
It is reported that since the beginning of this year, a number of "Belt and Road" countries have opened up visa facilitation policies for Chinese tourists, attracting a large number of Chinese tourists.
Among them, on September 13, Thailand officially announced the implementation of the visa-free policy for Chinese tourists, and tourists' willingness to travel to Thailand has increased significantly, and the number of inquiries and route bookings for Thai tour products in just one week increased by nearly 3 times compared with the same period last month; The opening of direct flights from Guangzhou and Beijing to Saudi Arabia has also allowed more residents in the Pearl River Delta and Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei regions to include Saudi Arabia in their wish list of outbound destinations.
The willingness to travel to Thailand has increased significantly
Since the accelerated recovery of outbound travel this year, package tours and customized tour products from Thailand, Singapore, Turkey, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and other countries jointly built under the "Belt and Road" have become best-selling products in the outbound travel sector of various platforms, and relevant travel agencies have continued to multi-dimensional layout of relevant destinations and create personalized products.
For example, Donkey Mother launched the "China-Kazakhstan Tourism Train" for Central Asian destinations, creating an in-depth tour of Kazakhstan, tourists can enjoy many well-known attractions such as Flame Mountain, Tianshan Tianchi, Serimu Lake, Charun Grand Canyon, Issyk-Kul, Almaty Lake, Danxia Geological National Park, etc., which are highly sought after by silver-haired people over 50 years old.
The industry believes that among the countries jointly built by the "Belt and Road", there are not only destinations familiar to Chinese tourists such as Southeast Asia, but also emerging niche destinations such as Iran, Saudi Arabia and Kazakhstan, and the market development potential is huge.
"With more young tourists becoming the main force of outbound travel, the current outbound travel market has changed dramatically." In Zou Qingling's view, in addition to checking in at popular attractions, tourists pay more attention to food, humanities, and immersive experiences during the trip, which puts forward higher requirements for market suppliers. "In addition to conventional products, products such as private groups, customized groups, boutique groups, landing groups, and local play will attract more and more market attention."
Text | Reporter Liu Xingtong Correspondent Wang Huabei
Figure | Platform offerings
Source | Yangcheng Evening News Yangcheng Pie
Responsible Editor | Zhou Xinyi
Proofreading | Su Min