Chinese travellers to explore Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia in 2nd quarter this year

Efficient air connectivity between the UAE and China witnessed over one million travellers from China in 2019. Post pandemic as the region awaits the return of Chinese travellers, “many Chinese now look for new destinations, they can include Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia etc.” shared Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Georg Arlt, CEO China Outbound Tourism Research Institute and CEO Meaningful Tourism Center  with TBN at a recent interview.

He further reiterated, “after three long years, China’s borders opened up again in early 2023. Business travellers and students started to go abroad immediately, leisure tourists had to renew their passports and in many cases are currently waiting for the processing of their visa application. Not more than half of the air routes from and to China have been re-established and air ticket prices are only slowly falling. As a result, in the first half of 2023, China’s outbound travel restarted slower than expected: Less than 25 million Chinese crossed the border, compared to 90 million in the first half of 2019.  Fortunately, all surveys and forward booking numbers show that the 100 million Chinese citizens affluent enough to travel long distance and the 200 million Chinese who can afford a trip within the region are eager and willing to spend their travel budgets as soon as it becomes possible again. In 2024 China will be again the No. 1 international tourism source market in the world. However, the needs and expectations as well as travel motivations and behaviour changed profoundly during the pandemic, with shopping, package tours and sightseeing losing out to activities, authentic experiences, local culture and gastronomy, special interest tours and the discovery of new destinations.”