Between 9-and 14 March 2022, Dragon Trail Research surveyed 1,011 mainland Chinese travelers about their travel preferences and behavior, including appraisals of outbound destinations, opinions about China’s quarantine-on-arrival policy, and domestic travel experience.
The spring 2022 sentiment survey came at a point where global pandemic controls were being lifted significantly, but Chinese domestic outbreaks were on the rise. News reports in China showed the advent of war in Europe. Under these circumstances, it’s not surprising that more than half of the survey respondents were not planning to travel.
Yet at the same time, sentiment around “eager to travel” also grew significantly since Dragon Trail’s last traveler survey in September 2021. Perceptions around the safety of international travel destinations also improved across the board – for each and every country on the list.
Quarantine-on-return remains the biggest obstacle to outbound tourism, and our spring 2022 survey reveals shifting attitudes towards this policy. Compared to September 2021, an increasing number of travelers would prefer quarantine to either be relaxed or stay the same, with fewer calling for stricter measures. At the time of writing, it has been announced that a number of cities in China will in fact reduce hotel quarantine for inbound travelers to 10 days, down from 14.
In other areas, Chinese travelers remain extremely consistent: Independent travel is now strongly preferred over traditional large-group tourism, and nature tops the list of preferred travel themes.
This report also includes a detailed look at two major travel themes for domestic Chinese tourism: Winter sports, and travel to the island province of Hainan. While both are popular – with the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics giving a major boost to snow and ice tourism this year – our survey findings reveal significant potential for continued growth.
Despite China’s zero-COVID policies and current restrictions, travelers have not lost their taste for adventure, and even appear to be relaxing their concerns about international travel – good news as the travel industry continues to await the country’s long-anticipated reopening.
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