Fewer Chinese travellers crossed the border out of Mainland China in 2021 than in 2000, according to new figures from the Chinese Outbound Tourism Research Institute (COTRI).
The 8.5 million outbound travellers from China in 2021 were below the 10 million seen in 2000 and less than 5% of the figures seen pre-pandemic in 2019.
However now new concerns have risen around when Chinese travellers and shoppers will return to wider international markets, with most outbound Chinese tourism currently heading to Macau. The rise of the Omicron variant has raised new questions about whether Chinese travellers will return this year.
The Chinese Government’s policy has left the country and its residents less exposed to the Covid-19 virus than other nations and the arrival of Omicron could lead to a spike in cases, according to COTRI.
This raises questions about how brands and businesses can continue their engagement with Chinese shoppers, especially with usual WeChat outreach only engaging thousands of consumers rather than the millions usually involved with Chinese digital outreach. Word of mouth and word of mouse are more effective but is superseded by content created by individuals.
This means a new approach is needed.
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