Survey highlights Chinese travelers' wanderlust

China's travel market is not only super-resilient, but also hungry for so-called "revenge travel" after so much pandemic confinement, even if it is only internal, a major data analysis study of the sector has revealed.

Dragon Trail International's fourth Chinese Traveller Sentiment Survey found that more Chinese people are resuming pre-pandemic travel behaviors, despite on-going safety concerns.

Some 43 percent of survey respondents said they would "travel cautiously," up from 31 percent in Dragon Trail's March 2021 survey. The proportion who said they would not travel dropped from 39 percent in March to 32 percent, while those who said they were "eager to travel" stayed the same, at 20 percent.

Looking at the latest travel data, ForwardKeys, which specializes in travel data analysis and is based in the Spanish city of Valencia, said demand for Chinese domestic air travel bookings had rebounded quickly after the recent outbreak of COVID-19 was brought under control.

"We believed Chinese domestic travel would rebound quickly, as we saw that happen earlier this year. Lunar New Year travel was also badly affected by the outbreak of COVID but came back quickly when all high and medium-risk areas had been cleared in late February," said Nancy Dai, China market expert at ForwardKeys.

"Looking at air tickets issued for any future travel, we see the strongest decline in early August during the largest outbreak since 2020. However, the situation was contained by mid-August ... From the week of August 14, issued tickets increased 53 percent week-over-week. We will continue to see positive figures in the coming weeks as more last-minute bookings take place," Dai added.

Furthermore, 71 percent of those surveyed by Dragon Trail International said they planned to travel during the upcoming National Day holiday in October. While the largest proportion said they planned to travel locally, a growing number are now willing to go further. The top cross-provincial tourism destinations were Yunnan, Beijing, Hunan, Zhejiang, Sichuan, Shanghai, Shaanxi, Hainan, Fujian, and Chongqing.

Just like in Europe and the Caribbean, travel reactivation is being led by sun and sea leisure destinations. Nature (74 percent) and island and beach trips (56 percent) were the most sought-after themes for domestic travel.

While outbound tourism is still not possible, Dragon Trail's survey also revealed sustained interest in dreaming about international travel.

"The number of new cases at destinations has a direct impact on safety concerns, but Chinese travelers are learning to balance risk and desires. Our latest sentiment survey revealed growing frustration around restrictions and inconveniences, paired with a stronger desire to relax from constant worrying," said Wang Mengfan, Dragon Trail's manager of research.

"81 percent of Chinese travelers responded positively to information about outbound destinations. Travelers were fascinated by different cultures, gastronomy, and laid-back scenery such as beaches and nature," Wang said.

International beach and island travel was the second most popular activity that respondents said they wanted to do on their next outbound trip, after trying local food.