China Group Travel 2.0: What You Need to Know
China’s travel market has essentially recovered. The China National Railway Corporation expects to receive 750 million passengers during the upcoming summer holiday period that ends late August. During the period, China’s railways are expected to receive roughly the same volume of passengers as in 2019, with nearly 14 million passengers expected on peak days. The travel game in China has changed, however, with travellers opting for a far more small-group, socially-distanced approach to travel, albeit domestically.
What will the future of China’s group travel look like? First of all, it’s important to bear in mind that group travel is here to stay as a dominant fixture in China’s outbound travel market. The percentage of Chinese travellers with passports still stands firmly south of 10%, which is a strong proxy for a large potential group travel market. China’s (famously) aging population will produce a growing market of first-time international travellers who, without exception, do not possess the experience, intrepid grit or language skills of their FIT-inclined grandchildren. So will roving low-cost tour groups remain a permanent feature of New York, Paris and Seoul’s streets? It’s unlikely.
Market research from DragonTrail reveals a shift in the Europe-bound group market towards higher quality and more tailor-made tours, as growing wealth in China drives demand for return visits. Low-end packages with forced shopping and dingy accommodation are feeling the brunt of heightened regulations around tourism destination and experience quality in China, shifting market standards higher. Though older Chinese travellers may still prefer to outsource their trip planning, consumer appetites have decidedly shifted toward better-quality — and more tight-knit — travel groups.
As China’s new RV travel hype and the ubiquity of hotel robots might suggest, COVID-19 has driven a decisive breakup between Chinese travellers and crowds of people. And it’s not likely to change much, as crises tend to imprint certain anxieties and habits very firmly in the human psyche, which is something we’ve dubbed the SARS Mask Effect. Much like the continuation of mask-wearing in Asia after SARS had subsided, 9/11 precipitated a new era of inefficient airport processes that we’re still trying to get ironed out, as IATA director-general Alexandre de Juniac points out. Smaller, more family- and friend-based groups with far less contact between strangers is likely to drive demand for one-stop destinations such as smaller-scale river cruises and secluded, exclusive resorts.
Strangely enough, the best communications strategy to talk to China’s group travel market might be through the first FIT trailblazers out the gate, as China’s travel restrictions loosen up. By all indications, FIT will be the first travel market to recover, simply because bans on individual travel will be lifted before group travel bans are, and because far less logistics goes booking an FIT trip, compared to the boxes group travel agencies have to tick. With advertising channels in China being ridiculously crowded and costly, targeted digital media campaigns will do the most legwork in getting influential FITs in the door first, generating the domino effect of word-of-mouth that will redirect post-pandemic group travel.
