DMCs in China say the recovery of international business events after three years of pandemic-related closures, rests on simplifying visa applications and shorter approval times, airfares coming down and more stakeholders getting back on their feet.
They were responding to news that all travellers, since April 29, would be facing less stringent Covid-19 testing before departure, with airlines no longer required to verify the results to allow check-in or boarding.
A Shanghai-based DMC, catering to markets in Europe and the US who declined to be named, told TTGmice corporate events were already back.
Visa applicants, the managing director said, complained about the volume of personal information needed and forms with section wordings that were not yet “internationalised”.
The managing director noted that airfares were still very high, as the frequency was only back to 30 per cent of 2019 levels and affected major cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.
She hoped frequency would normalise by 3Q2023 and welcomed the diversified direct air links to destinations such as Shenzhen, Xiamen, Xi’an and Chengdu.
“We used to pack multi-destination programmes with major cities in one week, and it is now completely feasible to plan international events in these charming destinations as a standalone,” she observed.
Alicia Yao, founder and general manager of IME Consulting, said it was important for DMCs to promote China again at key events like IMEX Frankfurt, but many will not be able to attend due to visa applications and approvals stretching to June and July.
The next opportunity, Yao said, was to piggyback on the Ministry of Culture and Tourism’s China Tea Culture June 14-15 event taking place in Budapest, where European travel agents and DMCs which used to do business with China would be invited.
Yao said IME, headquartered in Beijing, was taking the lead to organise and encourage DMCs to meet buyers to discuss product design, new products, pricing, and encourage the resumption of site inspections.
She added IME and other DMCs were now working together to bid for international conferences.
“Airfares are now twice as what they were before, taking up about 50 per cent compared to 30 per cent of budgets before,” she noted.
IME, she shared, had received RFPs from countries like Hungary, Italy and Brazil with travellers coming to China for business, scientific and technology exchanges.
For Century Holiday Travel Group, which specialises in South-east Asia, business events started trickling in two months ago when China started issuing tourism visas on March 15.
Deputy general manager, Kin Qin, noted while it was easier for travellers from Indonesia and Malaysia to obtain visas, Singapore no longer enjoyed visa-free entry.
Qin reported incentives from South-east Asia resuming from August onwards, but warned demand from China’s domestic market, which was huge and could pay high prices, could affect international business events recovery.
Century, which used to have 300 employees pre-Covid, excluding guides, is rebuilding its staff strength of 100 now. Headquartered in Shenzhen, it has branches in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Hong Kong and Macau.
