Daibin’s Latest Judgements on China Outbound Travel at COTTM2024

Mr. Dai Bin, President of the China Tourism Academy and Director of the Data Center of the China Ministry of Culture and Tourism, delivered a keynote speech at 2024 COTTM Conference last month，expressing his latest judgements on the China outbound travel and tourism industry trends and development.

The COTTM organiser was very honored to have invited Mr. Dai Bin to COTTM to make the keynote speech! President Dai has supported the development of COTTM since its establishment, and spoken at COTTM Conference for many times.

The COTTM team summarized the key points from Dai Bin’s speech.

Firstly, how should we view the current China outbound tourism market?  At what stage is the outbound tourism market? 

With the tourism economy in China gradually recovering in stability, the China outbound tourism industry has returned to normal. Chinese outbound tourism recovered to 82% of the level in 2019 In the first half of the year. During this year's National Day holiday, the number of outbound tourism trips reached 3.8 million. It is expected to be close to the level of 2019 in the second half of this year.  Judging from various data, our country's outbound tourism is returning to a new stage of normal development and will enter a new cycle of prosperity.  This is our overall judgment.

The number of flights in East and Southeast Asia still accounts for 76% of the number of international flights in China, so the overall pattern of the short-haul market has not changed. Destinations in countries along the “One Belt, One Road” are growing rapidly. In terms of international flights, the number in countries along the “One Belt, One Road” accounts for 60% of the total international flights.

Secondly, what has changed?

Many niche travel destinations are emerging and entering the purview of Chinese tourism industry. Consumer behavior is also changing. Chinese tourists have gone from a ten-day tour of seven European countries to shopping tour, and now they aspire to discover more beautiful life scenes in overseas destinations and experience them in depth. Language is becoming less of a barrier, and technological changes such as AI have transformed the way people interact with each other.

Objectively speaking, due to the fact that the number of flights in the long-haul market has not returned to the previous level, especially in the North American market, we are still less than half of what we were in 2019. If this problem is solved, the market will develop at a higher speed than expected.

With the development of China outbound travel industry, some outbound tour operators such as U-tour will also expand their overseas business, just like what Hilton, Sheraton Hotel and Thomas Cook, American Express did when they came to China. Similarly, Chinese enterprises are actively going global now.

Thirdly, how do we view the development of China outbound tourism in the coming future?

First of all, let’s look at the main influencing factors: with the development of Chinese-style modernization process, we are increasingly pursuing the coordinated development of material civilization and spiritual civilization. A better life for the people is our national goal.

Entry and exit policies are becoming more and more relaxed: Now 26 countries have mutual visa free access to Chinese citizens, and more and more countries have unilateral visa free access for Chinese people holding ordinary passports.

China outbound tour operators are becoming more and more matured, launching more and more customized and in-depth global outbound products.

More and more destination countries and regions have gained increasingly accurate understanding of Chinese tourists, adapted to the changes in family tours, study tours, parent-child tours, and best friend tours, and launched corresponding products. On the other hand, the systems for overseas destination management is being also improved day by day.

Future policies and trends that need attention:

The Chinese government will still encourage and support the development of outbound tourism. It is hoped that overseas tourism destination government departments, public sectors, commercial organisations and industry associations in various countries and regions can provide Chinese people with safer, more convenient and quality travel services.

It is hoped that Chinese tourists can enjoy a guaranteed quality of life overseas, and that overseas destinations can provide Chinese tourists with safer, better and more efficient services. It is also hoped that Chinese tourists can be treated equally in all countries in the world.

We anticipate more intensive collaboration among travel agencies worldwide, between travel agencies and suppliers, as well as between destination travel agencies and Chinese tour operators.