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Previously, there were many luxury tours to China offering customers upscale experiences. For example, the American company Huffman Travel had planned several luxury tours to China in the spring of 2020, but most tourists (all Americans) decided to cancel rather than reschedule.
Tourism in China has been severely impacted by the pandemic.
Shawna Huffman Owen, President and CEO of Huffman Travel, said that after China closed its borders on March 28, travel agencies specializing in providing ultra-luxury tours to China for wealthy clients were very concerned, fearing that luxury travel would take longer to recover than other types of travel after the pandemic.
“People’s lives in general are different now… With border closures and quarantine procedures… it’s difficult for our customers to commit to a major trip… I believe they want to play it safe and choose safer destinations…” Ms. Owen analyzed.
According to Ms. Owen, while many wealthy customers can't wait to take luxury tours to Italy, New Zealand, etc., few have chosen other destinations in Asia instead of China. She also doesn't have high hopes that this very promising market will reopen to the airline's customers before 2022.
China is unlikely to reopen before 2022.
“The ultra-luxury travel market seems to be primarily focused on ‘reassuring’ travelers in small groups, prioritizing high standards of safety and hygiene, so I think there’s still hope when borders reopen,” said Simon Hudson, Professor of Tourism at the University of South Carolina and author of the book “COVID-19 and Tourism: Impact, Response, and Outcome,” expressing his optimistic view.
Mr. Hudson also predicted that demand for chartered planes and luxury private villas would continue to increase. For complete peace of mind, affluent travelers might even bring their own food and private chefs on their tours.
Guy Rubin, managing partner of Imperial Tours (one of the leading operators of ultra-luxury tours to China), emphasized that the hope of his company resuming operations in China from March 2021 seems unlikely to materialize. Therefore, travel agencies should consider exploring other potential alternative destinations.
