Travelers Eager to Venture Overseas After Three Years

With China lifting more travel restrictions after optimizing its COVID-19 response, many travelers have booked flights for long-awaited overseas trips.

On March 15, the nation began allowing travel agencies and online tourism service providers to offer group tours to a second list of 40 destinations, including France, Greece, Spain, Italy, Denmark and Brazil.

On Feb 6, it announced a pilot program to resume group travel to 20 countries, including Thailand, Indonesia, the Maldives, Singapore, Egypt, Kenya, Switzerland and New Zealand.

Li Zi, 30, who works for an internet company in Beijing, said: "On the night of Dec 27, I read about the new epidemic control measures due to take effect on Jan 8. I was so excited that I read this short report repeatedly before deciding to plan an overseas trip as soon as possible."

She used to travel overseas with her husband two to three times every year, and the couple visited dozens of countries from 2016 to 2019.

"We traveled around the world for fun. I was curious about everything overseas, and I learned about numerous cultures and traditions in different countries," Li said.

While travel restrictions were in force, Li left Beijing whenever she could, and during the toughest period for COVID-19 in the capital last year, she visited Qingdao, Shandong province, Changbai Mountain, Jilin province, and Hainan province.

"If I didn't arrange a new journey every three months, I had nothing to look forward to. I left Beijing, even at the risk of being quarantined," said Li, who travels to relieve pressure from work.

A few days after the new policies were announced, Li's husband saw return air tickets to Belgium advertised on the internet, costing 7,000 yuan each ($1,012) for departure in three weeks' time.

The couple obtained their visas within a week, although their trip was shortened due to a canceled flight.

Before they left, Li was highly excited but also concerned, as she had not been abroad for three years. She packed many COVID-19 prevention items, including face masks and disinfectants.

"After we landed in Brussels and walked out of the airport, we totally forgot about the risk of infection from COVID-19. It was as though the disease had never happened. No one was coughing, no one wore masks, and no hand sanitizers were in sight," Li said.

The couple's most memorable experience during the trip was a chance encounter with a group of Christians singing songs in front of a Belgian church one night.

"People came together to delight in the sound of music — heralding the return of human connections that had been absent for a long time. We were so touched by the sight of the singers that it brought tears to our eyes," Li said.

She added that she used to spend a lot of time exploring architectural styles in Europe, but during the recent trip, she shifted her focus to local life — observing how residents went about their daily activities.

Li, who plans to visit Turkiye with her husband in May, said: "I travel abroad to immerse myself in diverse cultures, adjust my mindset, and free myself from the pressures of work. A job is a way to earn money, but taking a well-deserved break for enjoyment is just as important."

Best performance

A report from online platform Trip.com Group on Jan 27 showed that domestic and international travel bookings reached a three-year peak during Spring Festival, with overall reservations from tourists rising fourfold compared with same period last year.

Fang Zeqian, an analyst at Trip.com Group, said, "As the first Spring Festival since the pandemic, and with people no longer confined to their homes, the tourism market delivered its best performance for three years, with large groups of people flying out of the country."

To meet growing demand, Trip.com Group launched nearly 700 outbound tours covering 15 destination countries or regions.

Fang said that in the past three years, many Chinese restaurants abroad closed and tour guides changed their careers, so it would take time for overseas ground service providers to reorganize themselves after receiving approval to resume services.

"The recovery of the outbound tour group market will also take a while. We predict that from this month onward, the number of outbound tours and bookings will rise significantly, and there will be a noticeable market surge by the May Day holiday," Fang said.

During the Chinese New Year holiday, the majority of early bookings were made by people born in the 1980s or 1990s, including Wu Jianshu, 30, a cultural and arts industry worker from Zhuhai, Guangdong province.

One week before Spring Festival, Wu booked an appointment to renew his passport, obtaining the travel document three to five days before Lunar New Year. He chose to visit Turkiye.

"We were excited but a bit nervous before leaving for Turkiye, as one of our family members was worried about facing unexpected incidents or problems abroad after being isolated from the world for three years," Wu said.

On arrival in Istanbul, the family quickly settled into a routine, without taking any additional protective measures.

"Generally speaking, life in Turkiye had returned to normal for most people, and I noticed locals who could speak a few words of Mandarin greeting visitors from China," Wu said.

The family spent four days in Istanbul before taking a road trip along Turkiye's southern and western coasts.

"Previously, I focused on my own interests during my travels, especially those related to my work in the arts industry. I often ventured to lesser-known areas of the cities I visited to experience local life," Wu said.

The essence of international travel for Wu lies in immersing himself in authentic everyday experiences of a foreign culture. He usually plans a 10-15-day itinerary for an overseas trip, during which he visits one or two cities at a leisurely pace.

During a trip to Thailand several years ago, he met a foreign friend who said, "I'll return home once I finish reading this novel." This statement caused Wu to change his perspective toward travel.

"I've come to appreciate the value of taking a slower, more relaxed approach to travel, allowing myself more time to truly absorb and experience the culture and lifestyle of the places I visit," he said.

During the past three years, Wu traveled to destinations in China once every one or two months, despite restrictions imposed due to COVID-19. He visited different places to stay in uniquely designed hotels or to attend exhibitions.

He intends to visit London during the May Day holiday to explore the city's museums and art galleries.

Data from Trip.com Group show Spring Festival reservations to the Indonesian resort island of Bali rose by 30 times year-on-year, while those to Singapore rose by more than eight times.

Reservations to Manila, capital of the Philippines, were up fivefold, and to the Thai destinations of Bangkok and Phuket more than fourfold. Bookings for Chiang Mai, Thailand, and Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian capital, rose by nearly three times.

To avoid crowds in Southeast Asia, Zhang Da, 25, who comes from Beijing, opted to visit Dubai, United Arab Emirates, with his father during Spring Festival — Zhang's first overseas trip for three years.

"After the optimized measures were announced, many people in Beijing tested positive for COVID-19, so I started planning the trip about a week in advance. However, I felt I was not as good at making such preparations as I used to be," said Zhang, who works in the cross-border e-commerce clothing industry.

Graduating from Bentley University in Boston, United States, in 2020, when the pandemic emerged, Zhang chose to return home instead of continuing his further education overseas.

He faced a range of problems, including expensive flights, lengthy hotel quarantine periods, and difficulty transporting his pet cat.

"Since I hadn't left China for overseas trips in the past three years, I was eager to relax in a different environment during Spring Festival," Zhang said.

An unforgettable moment for him was watching the sunset from one of the world's highest swimming pools.

This year, Zhang plans to travel to Switzerland and Iceland.

"After the pandemic, international journeys will rekindle my passion for travel by enabling me to focus solely on the trip and forget about the stresses and strains of everyday life," said Zhang, who used to travel overseas two or three times a year before COVID-19 emerged.

Long journey

Unlike most Chinese planning their first trip for three years, Mi La and her boyfriend set off with their dogs early last month with the aim of visiting six countries in six months.

"We want to see different cities and countries. After being cooped up for so long, I want to travel again. I aim to reconnect with the world and continue exploring before I look for work on my return," said Mi, who was born in Beijing and has lived in Shanghai since she graduated from a university in Boston in 2021.

She studied in the US for almost 10 years before the pandemic struck, and used to travel frequently — spending three months overseas on summer study tours.

"Traveling is not just a hobby, but an indispensable part of my life. I gain a deeper understanding of each place I go to by living like a local and visiting restaurants, markets and bazaars," said Mi, who started studying part-time at culinary and hospitality school Le Cordon Bleu in 2017 to learn about the food and lifestyle of each city she visits.

After returning to China at the start of the pandemic, the couple opted to start their journey from the US. Mi planned to visit many places before COVID-19 emerged, but didn't get the chance to do so.

Mi, her boyfriend and the couple's dogs were confined to a small apartment in the center of Shanghai during the lockdown last year. As the US is extremely dog-friendly, she decided to take the animals on the journey for them to get close to nature.

Before preparing to return to the US, the couple completed a three-month, 12,000-kilometer road trip with the dogs through different provinces and cities in China just after the restrictions in Shanghai were lifted in June.

"I was firmly determined to travel this time. The unforgettable experiences of the past three years reinforced my view that we would never lock ourselves up again once the restrictions were lifted, and that we couldn't waste our freedom," Mi said.

Before setting off on the latest trip, she felt quite anxious, as it had been three years since she last ventured abroad.

"I feared I had lost my desire for overseas travel. However, once I set out, I realized there wasn't that much difference to the overall COVID-19 situation, and in some ways, I even felt that the US was stagnating," Mi said, adding she was surprised to see that almost nobody in the US wore face masks anymore.

After traveling for almost a month, she has noticed that both she and her friends now prefer to explore nature, rather than cities.

"I will decide what to do next when the time comes. There will always be a next stop, whether it is in the near or distant future. I hope everything will now return to normal after three years," Mi said.