The Gulf Time Newspaper One of the finest business newspapers in the UAE brought to you by our professional writers and editors.
It’s been more than two years since countries started closing their borders to visitors to prevent the spread of Covid-19. Now China, facing its worst outbreak of the pandemic, is trying a new tactic.
Henceforth, “unnecessary†overseas travel by Chinese citizens will also be restricted, supposedly to keep residents from bringing the virus home from abroad. The policy, announced earlier this month, will also make it harder to get passports and other travel documents.
It’s possible that these are temporary measures to be lifted when China decides that Covid is no longer a threat. The regulations don’t say. But China’s recent decision to cancel international sporting events scheduled for mid-2023 implies that it won’t be next year. The government’s growing concern about talent and capital fleeing China suggests that the regulations, in some form, will probably last much longer and become a kind of new, restricted normal.
The consequences for China and the world, would be profound. Before the pandemic, tourism and travel accounted for over 10% of global gross domestic product, and no country sent more travellers abroad than China.
A long-term decline would devastate businesses and economies that have come to depend upon them. A younger, curious Chinese generation raised on travel would be grounded, its expectations and living standards reduced.
Last century’s political upheaval that birthed modern China did not provide many opportunities for international travel. Most Chinese were poor, and an interest in visiting or knowing foreign countries and cultures was a politically suspect pastime. That began to change in the 1980s as China opened to business travel and, by the end of the decade, tourism.
But concern about foreign influences never totally subsided. So the Chinese authorities established a system whereby it licenses overseas tourism in controlled groups to approved destinations.
Over the next three decades, Chinese outbound tourism grew with the economy. In 2019, Chinese took 154 million foreign trips — a 3.3% boost over 2018. US travelers took just under 100 million. Chinese were also top spenders, averaging $1,852 for every trip in 2018. US travellers, by contrast, spent $1,363. Those visitors and their money transformed entire destinations. Mandarin Chinese signs and announcements are customary at international airports.
—Bloomberg