Urs Kessler, CEO of Jungfrau Railways, which takes tourists up Switzerland’s highest mountain, was delighted when China lifted all travel restrictions. But apart from a small group that arrived in February and a couple of large groups scheduled to arrive in May, Kessler has seen few more Chinese groups.
Urs Kessler photographed in Grindelwald, Switzerland in February. Photo: Reuters
Many travel agencies are in the same situation as Kessler. They are disappointed that the number of bookings from Chinese tourists is lower than expected. Meanwhile, this group of customers is classified as "high spenders". Before the pandemic, each Chinese tourist to Europe usually spent 1,500-3,000 euros, according to Global Times. Currently, according to data from the travel company ForwardKeys, the number of flight bookings by Chinese tourists to Europe in August (peak season) is only one-third of what it was before the pandemic.
Europe’s tourism industry is also grappling with post-pandemic budget domestic tourists looking for cheaper holidays as energy and food prices rise. This summer marks the second summer that Europe has reopened. But the industry still has a “long way to go to fully recover.”
Before the pandemic, Chinese tourists accounted for 10% of non-EU tourists’ stays in Europe. They had a particular interest in buying luxury goods and eating out. However, after the pandemic, Chinese tourists are facing many visa restrictions, long waiting times for passport renewals and increased travel costs. This has led to tourists being more interested in nearby trips like Hong Kong, Thailand or Macau than transcontinental ones.
For middle-class people, the cost of going to Europe is also a deterrent. "Money is definitely a factor. A lot of flights are not open yet - that makes it more difficult to get to Europe soon," said Stephanie Lin, who lives in Shanghai.
Faced with this situation, European tour operators are looking to other groups of customers, especially the United States. Some analysts predict that American tourists flocking to London and Paris could surpass 2019 levels.
Sophie Lu, 26, arrived in London in early March from Hawaii. She was surprised by the affordable food prices. "I don't intend to spend a lot of money. But I found it cheaper than where I live," she said, standing in front of Buckingham Palace.
On the Champs-Elysees in Paris, Colleen Danielson, 40, from Boston, said she, too, was looking forward to spending more because of the stronger dollar. Kessler, meanwhile, hopes that groups from South Korea and India will make up for the lack of Chinese tourists this year, in addition to the United States.
In addition, service industry workers also hope that in the last two quarters of the year, when visa policies are relaxed for Chinese tourists and many flights resume, the number of mainland tourists will increase. Therefore, they have prepared advertising campaigns in advance to attract this group of customers on WeChat.
Bicester Village, a store near Oxford, is also using WeChat to help Chinese shoppers. “It’s going to be flat at the beginning of the year, but then it’s going to pick up later in the year,” Kessler said.
