Chinese Reluctant to Travel Abroad Even If Restrictions Lifted

More than half of Chinese say they will put off travel abroad, for periods from several months to more than a year, even if borders reopened tomorrow, a study showed on Tuesday, a sign that consumer recovery from Covid-19 measures will take time. Mainland China retains some of the world's most stringent measures on PCR testing and quarantine for international travellers, despite some domestic easing of curbs after last month's unprecedented COVID protests. Fear of infection with the disease was the top concern of those saying they would postpone travel in a survey of 4,000 consumers in China by consultancy Oliver Wyman, with worries about changes to domestic re-entry guidelines in second place. As many as 51 percent of those surveyed plan to delay international travel. China was formerly the world's largest outbound tourism market, but its overseas visitors, who spent $127.5 billion on such trips in 2019, have virtually disappeared after it all but shut international borders in early 2020 and curbed non-essential travel by citizens. As many as 83 percent of the executives in China who responded to the survey said "a long road to consumer confidence recovery" was set to affect their mainland business over the next year. While the report found consumer sentiment subdued by lockdowns and economic uncertainty, Wouters said Chinese consumers still showed a willingness to boost spending next year if conditions improve.