Passengers wait to check in for the first direct flight between Shanghai and Athens at Athens International Airport, Greece, on Dec 22, 2022. Photo:Xinhua

Multiple Chinese online travel agencies (OTA) saw traffic surge as authorities announced on Monday the scrapping of inbound quarantine for inbound arrivals from January 8, 2023, search volume for international flights and hotels skyrocketed across various platforms.

According to a statement sent from OTA Qunar to the Global Times on Tuesday, the search volume for international flight surged by sevenfold within 15 minutes after the new policies were unveiled on Monday night. The booking volume for international flight ticket surged by five times within one hour after the new policies were announced, and most of flights will depart in mid-January to early February of 2023.  

Another domestic OTA Mafengwo also told the Global Times that the search volume for keyword "international trip" increased by 460 percent.

The demand for inbound flight ticket also spikes. Chinese e-commerce platform Taobao backed OTA Fliggy said searches for inbound flight tickets reached its highest level in nearly three years. 

"The adjustment of international travel policies will help with the recovery of cross-border flights and the number of international travelers will rebound in a short period," said Lan Xiang, analyst from Qunar, noting that the overall ticket price for international flight will return to normal levels as demand and supply balance out. 

Data from multiple OTAs showed that nearby countries were popular among the travelers. Qunar said Thailand, Japan and South Korea were the three most-searched destination on its platform, and Mafengwo listed five most popular cities of Bangkok, Tokyo, Chiang Mai, Singapore and Osaka. 

The implementation of the new travel policies will roughly coincide with the 2023 Spring Festival holidays, OTA Ctrip suggested that relatively low travel cost among Asian countries will give Chinese travelers new options to spend the most important festival with their families during a journey. The search volume for overseas tour groups during the 2023 Spring Festival holidays jumped by six times, according to Ctrip. 

However, Chinese flight tracking platform VariFlight said the volume for international flight may not see a significant increase within a short period.

According to the platform, as of 10 am on Tuesday, the search volume for international tickets during the 2023 Spring Festival holidays saw a three-fold increase. The volume during the 2023 May Day holidays saw six-time increase, which is estimated to be the first international trip peak after the new policies are implemented. 

For the coming international travel peak, multiple domestic travel agencies have started to rollout marketing campaigns.

Travel agency Springtour.com said it will work with authorities and Spring Airlines to re-design the tourism products for different travel destinations and train more staff to service travelers. 

Global Times