{"id":11599,"date":"2023-01-18T07:30:04","date_gmt":"2023-01-18T07:30:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focus.cbbc.org\/?p=11599"},"modified":"2025-04-23T09:34:23","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T09:34:23","slug":"when-will-chinese-tourists-return-to-the-uk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focus.cbbc.org\/when-will-chinese-tourists-return-to-the-uk\/","title":{"rendered":"When will Chinese tourists return to the UK?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, Chinese travellers were the number one contributors to global tourism. Now that travel restrictions have been lifted, when can we expect the return of Chinese tourists to the UK?<\/h2>\n

Since most day-to-day Covid restrictions were lifted in December, domestic travel in China has bounced back with a vengeance, helped by the start of the annual Lunar New Year travel rush. It is predicted that more than 2 billion trips will be taken during the 40-day period, up 99.5% from 2022.<\/p>\n

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However, now that international travel has resumed as well, many British businesses are asking when Chinese tourists can be expected to start visiting the UK again in significant numbers. In 2019, Chinese tourists spent \u00a31.71 billion in the UK, a 13.92% increase on 2018 \u2013 and if it hadn\u2019t been for the pandemic, that upward trend would have continued.<\/p>\n

Of course, speculation about tourist numbers is not an exact science, but many expect outbound trips to recover to 2019 levels by mid to late 2023 if no further travel restrictions are imposed on Chinese travellers by foreign countries. The signs are already positive: the search volume for outbound flight tickets and hotels on booking engine Ctrip reached a three-year high just after the international reopening was announced on 26 December,\u00a0 and the hashtag #\u660e\u5e74\u51fa\u5883\u53bb\u54ea\u513f\u73a9 (\u2018where to travel abroad next year\u2019) gained almost 160 million views on Weibo.com and has continued to trend since.<\/p>\n