‘Big Relief’
Michael Harrold, 61, a copy editor in Beijing, told Reuters: “It’s a huge relief to be able to go back to normal… just come back to China, get off the plane, get yourself a taxi and just go home. ” At Beijing Capital International Airport on Sunday after taking off from Warsaw.
Harold said when he left for Europe for the Christmas break in early December, he was expected to quarantine and undergo several rounds of testing upon his return.
State broadcaster CCTV reported on Sunday that direct flights from South Korea to China were close to selling out. The report became the most read item on the Chinese social media site Weibo.
In the near term, passenger demand growth will be constrained by the limited number of flights to and from China, which are currently at a small fraction of pre-COVID levels.
Flight Master data showed that there were a total of 245 international inbound and outbound flights in China on Sunday, compared with 2,546 flights on the same day in 2019 – a drop of 91%.
Korean Air said earlier this month it was pausing plans to increase flights to China because of Seoul’s wary attitude toward Chinese travelers. South Korea, like many other countries, now requires travelers from China, Macau and Hong Kong to provide negative COVID test results prior to departure.
Taiwan, which began testing arrivals from China on January 1, said on Monday that about 20% of those tested so far were positive for COVID.
China’s domestic tourism revenue is expected to recover to 70-75% of pre-COVID levels in 2023, but the number of inbound and outbound visits is only 30-40% of pre-COVID levels this year is expected to recover by 2020, China News reported on Sunday.