Buried in a daily digest of bad news, China has emerged with a positive outlook with signs of recovery definitely on the horizon.
Similar reports are coming through from several corners. The number of unique travellers for both domestic and inbound international searching for flights to China has seen an uptick in the past two weeks, according to ADARA. Unique searchers were up 29% for the week of March 8th compared to the week of March 1st.
The number of total searches follows a similar pattern. The total number of searches for flights to China (both domestic and international inbound) is currently 55% of the volume of searches seen in the week of January 5th, up from a low of 34% in mid-February. The average number of searches per searcher has increased in the past month, with an average of five to six searches per unique searcher.
Flight bookings from travellers in China outbound to international destinations have yet to post any genuine rebound, either in searches or bookings, as expected since travel bans globally are still in place, said ADARA.
Tongcheng-Elong Holdings has also reported an increase. According to a Bloomberg report, hotel bookings in March this week surged 40% from the previous week. Domestic flights increased 250% in the last week of February from the previous week.
Carriers are also reportedly putting back nearly 3 million seats into scheduled services this week, mostly on the domestic routes, said the Bloomberg report.
Stefan Leser, chief executive officer of Langham Hospitality Group said, “We are now starting to see a glimmer of relief in the form of a decreasing number of cases of confirmed infections in Mainland China, and our hotels in that region are now working towards a recovery plan for the rest of the year. As an industry, we are under tremendous pressure but it is heartening to observe that domestic travel in Mainland China is beginning to rise and that calls have started coming in for hotel stays.”
In another sign of recovery, luxury spending among the Chinese consumers is also rebounding, after a drastic fall in store traffic by almost 80% at the virus’ peak. Shoppers are reportedly going back to the boutiques in glitzy malls and engaging in “revenge spending”.
“China seems to have turned the corner and bigger cities are showing cautious optimism,” said Amrita Bauta, managing director of Agility Research in a Bloomberg report. “We see a slow but definitive bounce back.”
The Chinese are keen on getting the positive messaging out. The People’s Bank of China Deputy Governor Chen Yulu said he is expecting economic indicators to show significant improvement in the second quarter and that “the Chinese economy will return to its potential output level rather swiftly”.
In the food sector, recovery is also on the horizon. Hormel, producer of brands such as Skippy and SPAM, are seeing a return to normalcy. “There is actually a return to normalcy and our plants are fully staffed,” said Hormel’s CEO Jim Snee.
*To find out if we are really seeing green shoots in North Asia or if this is just wishful thinking, register for WiT Virtual’s summit featuring panellists from South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan who will share their insights from the ground.
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