If you look around, you will notice something that’s oddly missing when you are getting to your travel destination. The lack of Chinese travellers is loud and can deafen anyone’s ears, and the case of the missing Chinese tourists is not just limited to the US, it is felt everywhere from Parisian boutiques to Taipei noodle shops and it’s costing the world travel economy $130 billion.
But where are the Chinese travellers? Most people are choosing to travel domestically to save money, especially considering China’s slowing economic growth due to the world’s inflation, not to mention the political frictions that have been happening between countries and the current state of geopolitics that is also impacting travel. China is currently less connected to the outside world as well. Its network of international airline routes has declined by 43% and about 45 foreign cities can no longer be reached by direct flights with China. There are some exceptions to this trend of dwindling Chinese travelers, like in the Middle East for example China is keen interest to increase economic ties with the geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula. Overall many analysts are predicting Chinese International Air travel won’t reach pre-pandemic levels until 2025, and some shifts in Consumer behavior are expected to stay for the long haul.