Paul and his friend are from the UK, and just recently he visited Shanghai as a CityWalk, especially raving about the snacks at Yu Garden. Since the beginning of this year, with a series of visa-free policies, inbound tourism has increased significantly, and there are many inbound tourists like Paul.
According to China News Service, at a recent regular press conference held by the National Immigration Administration of China, Lin Yongsheng, spokesperson of the National Immigration Administration of China and director of the Department of Policies and Regulations, said that in the first quarter of this year, the number of foreigners coming to China increased by more than three times compared with the same period in 2023.
The first financial reporter recently visited a number of major scenic spots, and after conducting research with the industry, it was learned that the current recovery and growth rate of inbound tourism is very fast, and the biggest growth driver comes from the visa-free policy, and at the same time, the successive recovery of international flights and cruise ships has also transported inbound tourists. The resumption of inbound tourism has led to an increase in the performance of industries such as hotels and duty-free goods this year. However, with the increase in overseas tourists, issues such as foreign language services and payments have also surfaced.
The visa-free "circle of friends" has a remarkable effect
Different from the domestic travel market, inbound and outbound tourism are more complicated in terms of procedures, especially visa procedures, which are the first threshold for outbound and inbound tourism.
According to public information, on July 26, 2023, China resumed the 15-day visa-free entry policy for people holding ordinary passports from Singapore and Brunei to China for business, tourism, visiting relatives and friends, and transit. On December 1, 2023 and March 14, 2024, China implemented a unilateral visa exemption policy for ordinary passport holders from six countries, including France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and Malaysia, and six countries, including Switzerland, Ireland, Hungary, Austria, Belgium, and Luxembourg.
On March 1, 2024, the China-Thailand Visa Exemption Agreement officially came into effect. Just a few days ago, China decided to extend the visa-free policy for citizens of 12 countries, including France, until the end of 2025.
Lin Yongsheng publicly stated that since 2023, the National Immigration Administration has launched a series of policies and measures to promote the exchange of people between China and foreign countries, continuously improving the efficiency of customs clearance at ports, and improving the convenience of foreigners coming to China to work, do business, study, travel and live in China, which has been widely welcomed and recognized. Foreigners come to China for tourism and sightseeing, accounting for more than 30 percent, followed by business, visiting relatives and friends, work, study, etc. Up to now, a total of 989,000 foreign nationals from the above 10 visa-free countries have entered China without visas, accounting for more than 60% of the total number of people coming to China from relevant countries, showing an overall upward trend. In order to ensure the accurate and efficient implementation of policies and measures, the National Immigration Administration has deployed national immigration management agencies to dynamically monitor changes in customs clearance flow at ports, make every effort to ensure the safe and smooth flow of ports, and provide efficient and convenient customs clearance services and convenience for foreign nationals who come to China without visas in accordance with the law.
It is understood that on January 11 this year, the National Immigration Administration launched five measures to facilitate foreigners to come to China, further relaxing the conditions for foreigners to apply for port visas, implementing 24-hour border inspection exemption procedures, providing foreigners with convenience for applying for visa extension and reissuance and re-entry visas nearby, and simplifying the materials for foreigners to apply for visas in China.
Lin Yongsheng publicly stated that since the implementation of the policy, a total of 211,000 foreign nationals have entered the country by applying for port visas, and a total of 253,000 foreign nationals in China have applied for visa extensions, renewals, reissuances, and residence permits, making it more convenient for foreigners to come to China and stay in China.
According to Ctrip data, France, Germany, Italy and other countries that have previously unilaterally exempted visas have doubled the total number of inbound travel orders to China during this year's Spring Festival compared with the same period in 2019. According to the big data monitoring of passenger flow in the data center of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the total number of inbound and outbound tourists during this year's "May Day" holiday reached 3.672 million, including 1.775 million inbound tourists and 1.897 million outbound tourists.
Ground connection, accommodation and duty-free shopping have a significant pull
Chen Junjun has been engaged in tourism for about 20 years, and she has been working as a tour guide when she majored in tourism English in college.
"I've done outbound travel, inbound travel and even local travel during the pandemic, but my biggest specialty is the reception of inbound tourists. In the past, when I was busy, I led a group almost every day of the month, mainly to take European and American guests to visit iconic tourist attractions such as Yu Garden, the Bund and the Oriental Pearl. The epidemic once suspended all cross-border travel, and the recovery of outbound travel began in February last year, in contrast, the recovery of inbound tourism was slower than that of outbound travel last year, and driven by the visa-free policy, it is clear that the inbound sector has heated up rapidly since this year. I now lead tours for more than 10 days a month, and the business volume has doubled compared to last year. Chen Junjun told the first financial reporter that he used to lead a group, and most of the inbound guests would go to some iconic attractions, but now they will pay more attention to some niche routes, and even go to some sinking markets where even Chinese tourists are relatively rare.
The resumption of Chinese routes by international cruise lines such as Mediterranean and Royal Caribbean has also led to an increase in inbound tourists and a boost to tour guides like Chen Junjun.
The first financial reporter interviewed and learned that each docking of large international cruise ships can bring more than 3,000 inbound tourists, and since the beginning of this year, Shanghai's large-scale inbound groups are from cruise passengers. For example, at the end of April, the "Ocean Spectrum" cruise ship loaded with nearly 4,000 international tourists from Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Australia and other countries and regions arrived at Shanghai Wusongkou International Cruise Port, which is the highest number of international tourists entering Chinese mainland by single ship since the opening of the port.
Liu Zinan, chairman of Royal Caribbean Asia, said in an interview with the first financial reporter that the cruise industry has experienced ups and downs in the Chinese market, and in terms of sales model, it has made a transformation of cabin cutting, no longer a simple charter sales, and after restarting sales, the booking volume of direct sales channels is twice that of 2019.
In addition to tour guides and cruise companies, the accommodation industry is also a direct beneficiary industry after the resumption of inbound tourism this year.
Hotel groups such as Jin Jiang and BTG Homeinns said that in the past few years, the hotel source structure has basically been dominated by domestic tourists, and there are few overseas tourists, but since the beginning of this year, the source of international tourists has increased significantly.
The relevant person in charge of the Bund New Town Hotel on Jinjiang Metropolo Classic Shanghai Nanjing Road Pedestrian Street told the first financial reporter that about 60% of the hotel's guests were international guests before the epidemic, and after the outbreak of the epidemic, they were basically domestic guests, and since the beginning of this year, more than 30% of the guests have been international tourists, and it has recovered to about 50% of the level of international tourists before the epidemic in a few months.
Many businesses have begun to launch targeted inbound travel products. Ctrip's recently launched "Shanghai Free Half-Day Tour" provides one-stop inbound travel services, including free transportation and commentary by a foreign-speaking guide, currency exchange and Internet access. The program was launched on April 15, with about 80% of tourists from Central Europe and about 20% from Southeast Asia.
The return of more overseas tourists has also directly boosted duty-free shopping spending.
According to CCTV News, in the first quarter of 2024, the scale of departure tax rebates in Shanghai will continue to grow, achieving tax refund sales of more than 400 million yuan, issuing more than 10,000 "departure tax refund application forms" for overseas tourists, and handling tax refunds of nearly 45 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of more than 1 times, and continuing to rank first in the country in terms of departure tax rebate processing. In 2019, on the basis of the country's first "buy and refund" convenience measure for departure tax refund, Shanghai has added three new "buy and refund" centralized refund points for departure tax refund. Eligible overseas travelers can apply for tax refund at centralized refund points after spending at all tax-free shops in the mall with their shopping receipts and tax refund application forms. The establishment of the "buy and refund" centralized refund point can effectively dredge the blockage of single-family stores to bring their own tax refund cash, and vigorously promote the store to carry out departure tax refund business.
As of the end of March 2024, nearly 700 tax-free shops have been registered in Shanghai, and the tax-free shops have achieved full coverage of major business districts in Shanghai, such as Nanjing West Road, Huaihai Road, Jing'an Temple, Lujiazui and Qiantan.
There are also these questions to be aware of
More overseas tourists are entering the country, which brings popularity, but it also comes with some problems.
The National Tourism Administration of Thailand told the first financial reporter that since the implementation of the visa-free policy, due to the convenience of travel, tourists can "say go", so in China has seen a lot of Thai guests traveling, and they also put the travel experience in China on Thailand's social media, especially some Thai social experts, the travel experience they share is very popular, and it has further promoted the heating up of inbound tourism. But at the same time, there are some details, such as payment and foreign language services.
"Actually, a very fundamental problem is payment. At present, most domestic consumers use mobile payment, but after entering China, overseas customers basically use international credit cards and cash. Some high-star hotels or restaurants certainly accept credit cards and cash, but some small shops do not accept international credit cards, or even do not accept cash, because it is difficult to get change. As a result, it will be difficult for inbound tourists to spend money in some stores. Of course, this problem is now being solved gradually. Zhao Huanyan, a senior economist who has been engaged in and researched the cultural and tourism industry for a long time, analyzed the first financial reporter.
The first financial reporter recently visited the site and found that many taxis in Shanghai have Chinese and English reminder signs, and there are special guidelines for issues involving international payments. In some shopping malls, such as IAPM, there are signs at the entrance that accept all kinds of international credit cards.
As for the problem of foreign language services, many practitioners believe that it is necessary to solve it in depth from the aspect of talent training. For example, in the three years of the epidemic, many tourism talents have been lost, and some museums and other places lack foreign language talents for professional explanations.
"The explanation of the museum is very professional, to enter some venues to explain, but also need the assessment and certification of special venues, there will be a gap here, that is, foreign language tour guides may not have the special explanation qualifications of the venue, and the foreign language ability of qualified venue docents is not necessarily strong. In addition, there is a lack of foreign language assistance in the booking channels of some attractions, which need to be improved in the future. Zhou Weihong, deputy general manager of Spring and Autumn Tourism, told the first financial reporter that the lead time for the appointment of some cultural and museum venues is too short, for overseas tourists, even if they can really "say go", such a short reservation period means full of uncertainty, so it is recommended that the major scenic spots, cultural and museum venues, etc. optimize the visit reservation function as soon as possible, open the reservation function of the official website (foreign language version) as soon as possible, and open the reservation period as soon as possible, with reference to other museums in the world, at least 2 months or more, and simplifying the requirements for visitor information. For increasing the amount of small denomination cash at manual currency exchange windows such as banks, star hotels, and airport currency exchange windows. At the necessary currency exchange window, a certain amount of small RMB cash can be provided on the initiative to facilitate the consumption and payment of inbound passengers.
There are also industry opinions pointed out that in terms of accommodation, as soon as possible to increase the quality of a variety of accommodation resources to supplement the procurement, pay more attention to the details of the procurement of accommodation resources service quality, including the front desk, catering, guest rooms and other personnel of foreign language communication skills, reception of foreign tourists experience and emergency plans, etc., major travel agencies take the initiative to intervene in advance, communication and assistance, so that these characteristic accommodation resources can further enhance the experience of inbound tourists in China.
(This article is from Yicai)