Growing up, I remember finding fat cigar stubs strewn across the floor surrounding pretty much all tourism sites throughout the UK and around Europe. They were the remnants left by American tourists, it turned out. This was in the 80s. Wealthy Americans were definitely the big spenders as they splashed out on week-long trips that took in almost every notable European city and attraction.
Fast forward a few years and huddled around key tourism photo opportunities, the crowds looked Asian and without exception, they seemed to pull a ‘v sign’ with their first two fingers whilst smiling towards the camera. The 1990s was the age of the ‘Japanese tourist’. But not too far behind them, another group of Asian tourists was just as eager to enjoy their new-found wealth and appetite for all things European. Yet this tourist sector became genuinely huge. Hailing from the most populous country in the world and one that has embarked on an economic development strategy that saw some years the reaping of 20% development rates. This level of economic development had never been seen before. Neither had the beneficiaries of this project as they arrived in their droves to experience tourism in Europe.
As Chinese tourism became commonplace across Europe, its growth became so considerable that if one looked out across some open expanses at tourist locations, or even down the walkways at some UK universities, one would ONLY see Chinese faces. Not only were these visitors bringing money and taking with them a positive notion of European culture, but they also created pockets of Chinese culture for us to enjoy here in the form of restaurants, and stores and the uptake of mainly Mandarin language began to take hold. Albeit slowly, yet, ‘as is the way’, particularly in the UK.
COVID hit all countries hard and every sector suffered in some way or other. But industries like tourism halted completely. Pondering when the Chinese tourists would return in their numbers, many import industries watched China’s zero-COVID policy with bated breath. Flights between the UK and China had been indirect since the first year of the pandemic. When China abandoned its strict COVID management in December 2022, the world expected the Chinese floodgates to open rapidly, and flights to resume as normal, with business and tourism numbers returning to pre-COVID levels rapidly. Yet, this was not the case. The bounceback has indeed been a gradual one
Domestically, China’s local tourist industry is still only back to 90 per cent of its pre-pandemic volume, according to Bloomberg. But the good news is, although tourism levels are slow to pick up pace, there are provisions in place to foster even greater levels of tourism. Although Mainland Chinese tourists require a visa for Hong Kong entry, this part of Guangdong Province is setting an example to attract mainland tourists through the widespread implementation of facilities accepting Digital Yuan, China’s blockchain currency. With nearly all Chinese people, from all age groups, being used to contactless digital payments through WeChat and AliPay, forward-thinking moves from the Bank of China to encourage the rollout of Digital Yuan to over 200 stores across Hong Kong clearly indicates the readiness to welcome Mainland Chinese Tourists back, according to coingeek.com.
But there’s a great deal of hope for European tourism too, as Travel and Tour World details how Barcelona recently welcomed a group of visitors from Guangzhou. In conjunction with a high-profile press campaign, including an esteemed Chinese Tourist Guide, Chen Tingting, the group were shown iconic landmarks, a stunt aimed to prove that Chinese Tourists are returning in greater numbers.
Whilst many European tour operators are asking the question “Where are all the Chinese Tourists?” Campaign reveals that, although Chinese tourist sectors are making a cautious return to European travel, the pace is surely gaining, albeit slowly. Research and analysis company, Tourism Economics, reports that, although there has been a lift in numbers throughout 2023, Chinese arrivals in most European destinations remain circa 60 per cent below pre-pandemic levels. The inbound numbers around the Lunar New Year were said to be largely related to visiting friends and relatives and further growth will be monitored closely.
For more informative, useful, amusing and sometimes downright random posts, subscribe to British Panda here.
