A year after reopening its borders following the pandemic, the predicted rapid recovery of the Chinese outbound market has yet to materialise. And while recovery has been slow, there have been key markets and segments showing promise.
Speaking during a webinar titled ‘China Outbound: Are We Nearly There Yet?’ hosted by travel data specialist OAG, Deirdre Fulton, Managing Partner at Midas Aviation, said Chinese international airline seat capacity for the first quarter of 2024 was expected to be 30% below that recorded in 2019.
“When the shock, but much longed-for announcement came that China was indeed reopening last year, I think those destinations right across the world that had previously welcomed great volumes of Chinese travellers hoped for a surge, but we didn’t see a surge. We saw a very gradual build-up of capacity and we are still waiting for that market to recover,” she said.
OAG Chief Data Analyst John Grant said it was “extremely optimistic to hope that…
