It is the first time a Chinese goverment mouthpiece resumed promoting tourism in South Korea, following friction a few years ago over the deployment of the U.S. THAAD system.
The tourism recovery during the Qingming Festival holidays was unexpected, with the recovery level even surpassing that of 2019.
For the first time since borders closed in March 2020, the city will reopen to low-risk travelers from Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore who are not Hong Kong residents.
Asia remains the first-choice global region for outbound travel, followed by Europe, with North America in third place – despite the region’s poor image for safety.
China, Russia, the UK, Germany, France, Sweden and the U.S. are likely to be the key origins for tourists to Phuket.
Visit Rovaniemi estimates that the lack of tourists from China in 2020 cost the local economy up to 50 to 70 million euros.
China Eastern Airlines will overtake China Southern Airlines to operate the most domestic flights, while planned flights by Spring Airlines will surge by 62.25% from 2019 levels.
The overall weekly flights will reach 117,212, a year-on-year increase of 7.1 percent, of which domestic routes will grow significantly.
