‘I don’t think it can get any harder’: reality check for China’s travel industry

Over the summer and Mid-Autumn Festival peak travel seasons, China’s major cities buzzed with tourists, with travel data painting a picture of a vibrant recovery.

However, the reality for many in the tourism industry tells a different story, with operators lamenting the peak seasons as the “worst ever”, and some struggling businesses faring worse than during the darkest days of the coronavirus pandemic.

“I have never seen [business during] a ‘golden week’ so dismal, it’s worse than the quietest of the off season,” said Guan Wenlu, COO of Dear Voyage, a Chinese travel agency focused on high-end travel.

The stark contrast highlights a profound crisis lurking beneath the surface of apparent prosperity, marked by China’s weak consumer spending, as many travellers remain reluctant to open their wallets amid broader economic anxieties.

“Most hotels didn’t raise prices [for the golden week holiday], and compared to the same period last year, current bookings might only reach 60 to 65 per cent, and half of what was seen in 2019,” said Shen Qianyu, a travel agent from Sanya, a traditional tourist hotspot in China’s southern island province of Hainan.