China’s thawing travel restrictions, a boon for Zim tourism

THE relaxation of Covid-19 restrictions by China for international arrivals has raised hopes for Zimbabwe’s tourism players that the local multi-billion-dollar travel business will boost visitors from that Asian country.

China, the world’s second largest economy and where the first cases of Covid-19 were detected in December 2019, closed its borders for three years in a bid to contain the spread of the virus.

While China’s National Health Commission (NHC) said outbound travel for Chinese citizens, will be “resumed in an orderly manner,” the scrapping of mandatory quarantine, which takes effect from January 8, 2023, will make it easier for them to return home.

China was the world’s largest outbound tourism market before Covid-19 shut down global travel, with its overseas visitors spending US$127, 5 billion on travel in 2019.

The Asian country is one of the largest markets for Zimbabwe tourism.

Within 30 minutes after the announcement, data from travel platform Ctrip showed that searches for popular cross-border destinations had increased 10-fold, Reuters reported.

The Qunar, an online travel platform saw a seven-fold increase in international flight searches within 15 minutes.

Japan, Thailand and South Korea were among the top destinations searched on both platforms.

“There is already a stampede of people seeking to leave China who had largely stayed within their border for the past three years and it is something the local industry welcomes,” Safari Operators Association of Zimbabwe Chairperson Dr Emmanuel Fundira said.

“We expect an avalanche of Chinese visitors coming to Zimbabwe, especially Victoria Falls.” However, some analysts say the spike in Covid-19 cases in China after the relaxation of restrictions within its border and now for international arrivals may attract tighter regulations of visitors coming from China.

The loosening of domestic restrictions on December 7 did away with the mandatory testing that caused hours-long waits outdoors in the cold, lockdowns that saw people physically barred inside their homes and the use of mass quarantine camps for even mild cases.

In line with China’s “Zero Covid” policy aimed to completely stop the virus from spreading, its government locked down entire cities which led to widespread demonstrations in November this year.

But the loosening of the restrictions saw a spike in new infections, with the country’s health system reportedly overwhelmed.

“I think Covid-19 has been relegated to a level of not being so deadly, especially in societies where vaccination programmes were vigorously implemented.

“Of course, caution has to be exercised but I do not think it is a very big deal,” said Dr Fundira.

Tourism Business Council of Zimbabwe (TBCZ) Mr Paul Matamisa said the relaxation of China’s lockdown will have a major bearing on the future of tourism business into the country.

He said the relaxation of travel restrictions by China is a sign that greater things are coming.

“As you know we already have an agreement we signed early 2000 with China, so we are hoping that following the relaxation we are going to see more travellers coming from that part of the world to our country.

“We are very hopeful that we will get a fair share of the visitors coming our way following past experiences,” said Mr Matamisa.

According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, global tourism arrivals will increase by 30 percent in 2023, following a growth of 60 percent this year, but will remain below pre-pandemic levels.

China’s Zero-Covid strategy and economic downturn and sanctions imposed on Russia, delayed the sector’s recovery this year.-ebusinessweekly