Defining the New Chinese Tourist

As more and more countries open up, we might still be watching the curious case of the missing Chinese tourist play out in destinations across the world. That's helping to define a new Chinese tourist, whose domestic travel is boosting the country's economy.

Its borders sealed, China continues to maintain a strict zero-Covid policy even as the rest of the world moves to adopt an endemic approach towards the virus. So, while in 2019, 150 million Chinese tourists traveled abroad and spent about $255 billion in international destinations, the scenario in 2022 is very different.

A report from consulting firm McKinsey predicting key trends in China’s tourism market in 2022 shows that desire for overseas travel has rebounded to pre-pandemic levels with APAC being the top choice (24 percent). Southeast Asia, Europe, Russia, and Japan are named as the most desired overseas destinations.

However, outbound travel seems to be still a long way off as China’s policy announcements continue to delay any international opening. China now has a 14-day central quarantine and an additional seven-day home quarantine in most pl