Why is the arrival of Chinese tourists in Europe slow?

Chinese tourists are now expected to return to Europe after the easing of Covid-19 restrictions in China, although the number of bookings made by these prospective visitors to European tourist destinations is somewhat encouraging. Not good.

Post-coronavirus restrictions hampered Chinese travel for three years, and since their easing, Chinese tourists are no longer required to spend three weeks in quarantine upon returning home. But the results of this encouraging development in terms of tourism are yet to be seen in Europe.

An example of this is the small number of bookings for a Mandarin-language guided tour of the historic Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria, Germany. According to Bavaria’s Department of Palaces, only a few tour groups have booked these tours, while in the past most Chinese tourists came to Neuschwanstein as a must-see, and before the Covid-19 epidemic, 20 percent of guided tours of the castle were given in Mandarin. .

In this regard, Wolfgang Arlt, Managing Director of Germany’s China Outbound Tourism Research Institute, says that despite the easing of restrictions related to Covid-19, the chances of a large number of Chinese tourists arriving in Europe are currently low. According to him, no change is expected in this situation until the Easter festival as Chinese travelers are still facing obstacles.

Arlt also pointed out that the number of Covid-19 cases in China is still high.
In view of this situation, in early January, the member states of the European Union agreed to make the test of Covid-19 mandatory for all passengers of flights coming from China. In addition, the German authorities in China currently only grant visas to those who have a valid reason to travel, and tourism is not considered such a justification.

While the easing of these measures may encourage Chinese tourists to travel to Europe, Arlt also called for airlines to gradually increase the number of flights from China to Europe.

Currently, only one of the 10 most popular tourist destinations in China is Italy, where the number of Chinese nationals who came for vacation in 2019 was slightly less than 3.2 million. Other European countries, including France, Germany, Austria and Switzerland, are among the 20 most popular tourist destinations in China, while Asian countries are far more popular.

But here it is also worth considering that the number of Chinese tourists traveling to Europe has generally been less than the number of travelers coming from other regions of the world. Despite this, a spokesman for Spain’s tourism promotion agency, Torrespana, says they have high hopes for the arrival of Chinese tourists because Chinese tourists are generally big spenders.

According to Wolfgang Arlt, Chinese tourists do not go to any country just for vacations, “but they want to see and experience as much as possible in a limited amount of time, and this is to make tourist destinations more attractive to more people.” It’s a great opportunity.”

Currently, the Chinese are the worst tourism market in the world, and many tourism organizations, including the German National Trust Board, seem to be talking about a possible increase in Chinese tourist arrivals. According to Arlt, 170 million people traveled internationally from China in 2019, and 110 million people are expected to travel internationally from there this year. He says that this number may increase to 228 million by 2030.