"May Day" holiday travel bookings are hot. According to Ctrip data, as of April 7, the search popularity of domestic hotels on May Day was the same as that of the same period in 2023, about twice that of the same period in 2019, and the search popularity of domestic air tickets on May Day increased by nearly 20% year-on-year and nearly 30% over the same period in 2019. Medium and long-term tourism has become the protagonist of the "May Day" holiday, accounting for 56%.
Travel has also led to a visa boom. Ctrip's visa data shows that outbound travel visas for the May Day holiday have increased significantly since late February, with a month-on-month increase of more than 3 times in the week after the Spring Festival, and a steady increase of 50% per week. Judging from the current number of visa applicants, the number of visa applicants during the "May Day" holiday has increased by more than 3% year-on-year, and the transaction volume has exceeded that of the same period in 2019.
It is understood that in the same period last year, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand were not exempted from visas to China, and on this basis, the number of outbound travel visas is still growing year-on-year, indicating that this year's "May Day" will usher in a larger wave of outbound boom.
Judging from the visa data, the popular outbound travel countries on May Day are: Japan, South Korea, the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, Vietnam, Canada, New Zealand, etc. The top 10 source countries are: Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Suzhou, Xi'an, Chongqing and Chengdu.
As the first checkpoint for outbound tourism, the difficulty of visa processing plays a key role. Since last year, the outbound travel visa policy has been frequently favorable, and with the continuous recovery of cross-border flights, the demand for outbound travel has also continued to rise. Ctrip's visa business sales in 2023 will recover to nearly 8% of 2019 levels, a tenfold increase compared with 2022, and the number of visa applicants has increased by more than 3 times year-on-year since the beginning of this year.
The trend of multi-country travel is significant, and Ctrip has launched a 10-country visa black card
Thanks to visa facilitation and increased air capacity, China's inbound and outbound tourism market will develop rapidly in 2024, driving the recovery of the global tourism market. The China Tourism Academy predicts that the number of outbound tourists will reach 130 million in 2024.
With the rekindling of Chinese people's enthusiasm for outbound travel, more and more tourists are no longer satisfied with only going to one country at a time, or only one trip to a country, and the demand for outbound multi-country continuous travel and high-frequency overseas travel is heating up rapidly. According to Ctrip's visa data, the number of people who apply for multiple visas on Ctrip will account for 56% in 2023, an increase of 87% compared with 2019. Among them, the number of customers who apply for multiple visas in Japan has increased significantly, and the number of customers who have applied for multiple visas in Japan for 5 years is 5 times that of 2019.
For users who need to travel to multiple countries, Ctrip recently launched the "Global Visa Black Card", which allows users to apply for visas to 10 countries at a time and travel to up to 24 countries with a set of documents after placing an order for this product. During the processing process, there is one-on-one guidance from professional visa experts, which can reduce the 66 documents for applying for visas from 10 countries to 25 at one time, and submit the documents to multiple countries at one time, shorten the 191 processes to 92 for the individual application, and shorten the visa processing time for users through the one-stop customized visa application plan.
It is understood that Ctrip's "Global Visa Black Card" is divided into two versions, the price of the selected version is set at 13,888 yuan, and the other premium version can enjoy visa upgrades and expedited services. The 10 countries include 5-year multiple-entry visas for Japan, 5-year multiple-entry visas for South Korea, 10-year multiple-entry visas for the United States, 10-year multiple-entry visas for Canada, 3-year multiple-entry visas for Australia, 5-year multiple-entry visas for New Zealand, 2-year multiple-entry visas for the United Kingdom, 6-month multiple-entry visas for Turkey, Cuban tourist cards, and 30-day multiple-entry visas for Vietnam.
The product can be flexibly adjusted according to the needs of users, for example, it can upgrade the visa type of a country for a longer period of time, such as South Korea from 5 years to 10 years, and you can also make an appointment for urgent services, such as the United States to upgrade the appointment rush service. Users only need to make up the difference in the price of the consulate, and there is no additional service fee.
The reporter found that many of the countries involved in Ctrip's "global visa black card" are countries with difficult visas, including countries such as Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and the United States with a difficulty of 3, 4 and 5 stars. In addition, applying for visas from the above 10 countries can also enjoy additional travel to 14 countries, including: the Philippines, Montenegro, Mexico, Honduras, Dominica, Costa Rica, Chile, Peru, Papua New Guinea, Gibraltar, Cayman Islands, Bermuda, Anguilla, and Ireland.
"Visa-free Era" Visa Companies Sharpen Swords to Enhance Competitiveness and Quench and Forge "Moats"
In the past, the visa processing volume of "New Malaysia and Thailand" accounted for a large part of the outbound travel of Chinese people. Ctrip's visa business has also made strategic adjustments by improving service experience and efficiency, focusing on long-term countries in Japan, South Korea, Europe and the United States, and increasing diversified sales methods such as live streaming and cross-selling, so as to enhance its competitive advantage in the market.
The reporter learned that in Ctrip's visa self-operated products, users can self-modify the departure date, contact information, delivery information, invoice information, etc. in the order through the self-service online form filling function after placing an order, thereby greatly reducing the effort to modify the order content in the later stage and improving the efficiency of signing the application.
In addition, Ctrip has reached close cooperation with consulates in Vietnam and Cuba. It is reported that Ctrip is the first travel agency to cooperate with the Vietnamese Consulate in Shanghai, and has maintained a good cooperative relationship since 2019. Users can apply for a Vietnam visa at the Shanghai Consulate on Ctrip to enjoy the advantages of fewer materials, low price, and fast visa issuance. At the same time, Ctrip covers a more comprehensive range of Vietnam visa types, including 8 products of tourism and business types, which can meet the visa needs of applicants nationwide.
In June last year, Ctrip also signed a cooperation agreement with the Cuban Consulate in Shanghai, allowing users to apply for a Cuban tourist card to stay in Cuba for 90 days from China, and get a Cuban tourist card through Ctrip in one working day at the earliest. This year, Ctrip and the Cuban Consulate in Shanghai have started to sell Cuban Pink Cards, which can be used for customers to travel directly to Cuba from the United States.
"In the future, there will be more and more visa-free countries to China, as a visa company, if you want to go on in the long-term in the 'visa-free era', you should always be ahead of the pain points of consumers, grasp the latest travel trends of users, use technology to improve the efficiency of visa processing, and use the value of visa companies to develop forward-looking innovative products. Zhang Chen, CEO of Ctrip Visa, said.