Further COVID-curb relaxations drive up air ticket searches

The release of new measures to further relax COVID-19 prevention and control policies across China has triggered a surge in instantaneous air ticket searches, according to travel operators in Shanghai.

Health code and negative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) results for cross-region passengers are no longer required under the new measures released by the State Council, the country's Cabinet, on Wednesday afternoon. Moreover, PCR screening for passengers on arrival has also been scrapped.

Shanghai-based online travel operator Trip.com said its instantaneous air ticket searches soared 160 percent immediately after the release of the measures – a peak for the period before the Chinese Lunar New Year.

Air tickets between January 16 and 21, the Chinese Lunar New Year eve, were the most searched, which posted a record in the past three years.

"It is a significant boost to the tourism market," said Shen Jiani, a tourism researcher at the online travel site.

"Under eased COVID-19 prevention and control measures, the upcoming New Year's Day holiday and Spring Festival holiday are expected to be the most important turning point of the domestic tourism market," Shen suggested.

Mafengwo, a Chinese travel services and social networking website, said instantaneous searches of tours involving long-distance destinations soared immediately following the announcement with Sanya topping the list, witnessing a surge of 450 percent, followed by Xishuangbanna, Changbai Mountain, Hangzhou, Beijing and Chengdu.

Tuniu, another online travel operator, said its travel bookings between December 1 and 7 grew 72 percent from the period between November 24 and 30.

Shanghai, Nanjing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Hangzhou are the major source markets, it said.

It expects interprovincial tour market will warm up gradually and customized group tours will witness a boom of bookings.

"The 10 new measures send a ray of hope on China's tourism industry, which has just thawed, and eliminate tourists' concerns," said Zhou Weihong, deputy general manager of Shanghai Spring Tour.

Travel operators said that people seem to be more optimistic about their travel plans in 2023 under relaxed COVID-19 restrictions.

Shanghai Spring Tour said its orders on Monday surged 103 percent from last Monday, with ski or beach resorts like the Changbai Mountain, Xiamen, Sanya and Beihai being the most popular destinations.

Trip.com said searches for trips in 2023 grew more than 900 percent on its online platform recently compared with the same period last year as of Wednesday noon.