When countries’ tensions escalate, the typically far-flung destinations fall off travellers’ itineraries and become replaced with shorter travel distances. This is currently happening in Hong Kong, where many people are opting for travel to mainland China as their vacation spots rather than to fly any great distances for Easter weekend.
This change does not occur by accident; the combination of safety, accessibility of flights and rising cost of travel outside of Asia has created a new paradigm for vacationers in Hong Kong, where travellers’ perspectives with regard to where to go on holiday are being changed without them knowing.
Travel to mainland China from Hong Kong has increased significantly (approximately 30% increase in Easter trip bookings for this year compared to last year), and there is a substantial increase in the demand for long distance tours to Guizhou, Hunan and Hubei, suggesting that many people are now willing to consider travelling to these locations, which were not previously considered “popular” tourist destinations.
In other words, for a large portion of Hong Kong-based travellers, mainland China has become the safest and most viable option for leisure travel.
Many of the people who previously planned to visit Europe or the Middle East now have to rethink their plans due to recent tensions in the Gulf region as well as the lack of flights to these areas. As a result, many people have determined that it is less risky and more cost effective to stay within the Asia and to visit mainland China.
The air travel experience between China and Hong Kong provides the safest and cheapest option. The majority of long-haul carriers have been raising fuel surcharges, due to rising global fuel prices resulting from the recent geopolitical crisis. Carriers such as Cathay Pacific, HK Express, Hong Kong Airlines, and Greater Bay Airlines based in Hong Kong have all implemented fuel surcharges.
With more expensive flight prices through increased fuel surcharges, regional flight price reductions have made regional flight travel to China more attractive.
Improving Hong Kong’s economy has played a role in increasing tourism by residents through increased disposable income and the rise of consumer confidence, resulting in increased demand for foreign visitors to travel from China.
Despite global conflicts creating uncertainty, travel continues to have strong demand, and in turn, people continue to seek to take time off from work, celebrate holidays, and see new places, but they want them to be as safe and cost-efficient as possible.
There is also expected to be a significant influx of visitors coming from China to Hong Kong during the same holiday season as Easter coincides with Qingming, with many already fully booked moving south on high-speed rail.
Travel will likely originate from the Greater Bay Area because of the limited time available for a holiday. As a result, this creates a reciprocal flow of tourism between Hong Kong and Mainland China.
Border crossings (or checkpoints) located within Hong Kong should expect to process over 6 million trips in total during the Easter and Qingming holiday seasons, and almost all of these trips will occur via land crossings connecting Hong Kong to Shenzhen.
To say that is a significant volume of travel in such a short time would be an understatement; it illustrates how important regional travel will be as a foundation for the growth of tourism in uncertain times.
The major theme of the story is not that the conflict has stopped travel, but rather how travel has adjusted to reflect changes within the worldwide environment. Residents of Hong Kong continue to arrange vacations/travel plans, have continued to seek out new travel destinations, and are continuing to cross borders.
And they are simply choosing more convenient, safer, and closer travel destinations now than ever before, with Mainland China meeting all three criteria at this moment.
