The two-month summer holiday has come to an end. During the summer travel season, civil aviation across the country carried a total of 151 million passengers, a year-on-year increase of 2.9%, and guaranteed a total of 1.211 million flights.
The domestic civil aviation market leads the growth, the entry-exit market continues to pick up, and travel vitality is further enhanced. In particular, the summer vacation trip of "heading to the mountains and the sea" has become the most distinctive theme, and a number of "cool" treasure towns have suddenly emerged.
During this year’s summer travel season, Beijing led the country among popular domestic destinations, followed closely by cities such as Chengdu, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Urumqi. The cities on the list are all more popular than the same period last year. Among them, the number of tourists to Beijing, Urumqi, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen all increased by more than 10% year-on-year.
What is particularly worth mentioning is that during this year’s summer season, summer vacation and cooling off have become the mainstream choice for tourists. The “treasure town” with its pleasant climate and convenient transportation is very popular among tourists. At the Yunhe Terraces Scenic Area in Lishui, Zhejiang, there is an endless stream of tourists coming to escape the summer heat.
At present, Lishui Airport has opened 12 routes and established air bridges with 15 domestic cities. This summer, as flights landed one after another, the passenger flow at Lishui Airport continued to increase. Tourists from Shenzhen, Chengdu, Chongqing and other parts of the country walked out of the terminal building and rushed to the secret landscape.
Shi Ke, researcher at Qunar Big Data Research Institute: Among first-time passengers traveling by air this summer, the number of passengers destined for small airport cities in third-tier cities and below increased by 26% year-on-year. Coolness and convenience have turned these small towns from "alternatives" to "first choices" for summer travel.
International air routes are heating up in both directions during summer travel, and inbound tourism continues to be popular.
During the summer season, in addition to the domestic civil aviation market maintaining growth, international inbound and outbound routes are also heating up simultaneously. The popularity of the overseas social platform "China Cool" continues to grow. Coupled with the extremely high temperatures in many European countries this summer, the demand of overseas tourists to come to China to escape the summer heat and have in-depth experiences has increased significantly.
In addition, multiple benefits such as the continuous release of visa-free policy dividends and the continuous expansion of international routes have been realized, jointly promoting the expansion of both the source and destination of inbound tourists.
From the perspective of popular tourist destinations for inbound routes, cities such as Seoul, Bangkok, and Singapore are at the forefront during the summer season. It is worth noting that European tourists have become a highlight of inbound tourism this summer. Driven by the continued high temperatures in many European countries, the demand for summer vacation in China has reached a new high. According to the big data of Hanglu Zongheng, from July 1 to August 25, the number of passengers on inbound routes from Europe exceeded 1.41 million, a year-on-year increase of more than 25%.
Foreign passenger Fabian: I took a direct flight from Munich on Air China. It took about ten and a half hours and the flight was smooth. I think China is becoming more and more popular and important to the world.
In order to meet the growing entry and exit demand, my country's international route network will be further expanded this summer.
Yang Chunfei, Deputy General Manager of the Marketing Department of China Eastern Airlines: During the preparation and operation stages of summer travel this year, we have opened and resumed new international routes from Shanghai Pudong to Stockholm, Zurich, Qingzhou and other international routes. During the summer transport period, international route capacity increased by 6.2% year-on-year, with Europe and Southeast Asia increasing by more than 20%.
From the perspective of popular inbound destinations, this summer, Shanghai, Beijing, and Guangzhou ranked among the top three, and the inbound market showed a pattern of "blooming in many cities". Inbound tourism destinations are accelerating the spread from traditional port cities to characteristic cultural tourism cities. The number of inbound tourists in a number of characteristic cultural and tourism cities has grown by leaps and bounds.
