Coronavirus: Can China’s Golden Week boost Asia’s economies?

China accounts for almost one-fifth of the world’s international tourism according the United Nations World Tourism Organisation.

But this year, the pandemic has made international travel nearly impossible. So they’re travelling locally instead.

As a result, domestic tourism during this national holiday season is expected to recover to near pre-pandemic levels, helped by pent-up demand and cheap airfares.

China’s tourism ministry said around 425m people travelled within the country during the first four days of holiday alone.

And ticket sales from China’s biggest online travel portal Trip.com show local tourism recovering to around 80% compared to last year.

China’s recovery

“There is pent-up demand for Chinese travellers and their consumption, but there is still a kind of cautiousness there,” said Veronica Wang, a Chinese consumer analyst at OC&C Strategy.

However, some local governments including Shanghai’s are not heavily promoting domestic travel, and are asking students and their parents not to leave the cities at all.

“But we are seeing a boom of the luxury industry driven by consumers who love to travel internationally but cannot do so now. So they’re pouring their money into the domestic market,” added Ms Wang.

She said this year many Chinese travellers have been making their way to Hainan island, the southernmost part of China, to shop because local tourists can now buy duty-free luxury goods there.