CHINA. Tech-driven global travel distribution company DidaTravel has shared data that reflects a positive impact for inbound travel to China following the recent visa exemption announcement involving six key inbound tourism markets.
China instated a visa-free policy for passports holders from France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Malaysia on 1 December which will last for one year. It applies to trips of up to 15 days for business travel, tourism, visiting relatives and friends, and for transiting within China.
The DidaTravel data shows a +50% week-on-week increase from 1-7 December in hotel sales from these six markets. Hotel bookings from Spanish travellers to China have jumped by more than +100%, while bookings from Italy and Malaysia rose +50% and +67%, respectively.
According to DidaTravel’s year-to-date transaction value data, these three countries have been among the top 20 source markets for inbound China travel in 2023.
DidaTravel noted that although the wider Chinese inbound market has not yet recovered to pre-pandemic levels as borders only fully opened earlier this year, its own year-to-date inbound hotel sales to China have seen an impressive +151% growth against the same period in 2019.
The most booked destinations in China, it noted, are Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Xiamen, Suzhou, Langfang, Dongguan and Wuhan.
Shenzhen-headquartered DidaTravel has a customer base consisting of over 30,000 B2B buyers and a portfolio of over 70,000 direct hotel contracts, as well as more than one million hotel products from over 600 global suppliers.
The company’s Founder & CEO Rikin Wu said: “We were really excited about the growth opportunity for China’s inbound tourism sector as result of this news and these initial figures are very encouraging. Thanks to proactive policies like this, that create a strong business environment for tourism, we are able to unlock the full potential of the demand that exists to experience China.” 
