Europe looks forward to return of Chinese tourists after pandemic

BRUSSELS — After three years of job switching, Slovenian tour guide Luka eagerly awaits the arrival of first group of Chinese tourists as the COVID-19 pandemic situation has improved.

As one of the few registered Chinese-English tour guides in Slovenia, Luka is brushing up on his spoken Chinese, as droves of tourists from China are expected to arrive for the summer holidays.

In 2019, 13 million Chinese tourists landed in European Union member states, according to a report by the Brussels-based European Travel Commission, or ETC.

This number has plunged since the pandemic, until the reopening of European countries and the relaxation of China's outbound travel restrictions.

At the beginning of this year, China resumed its outbound travel business. Currently, China allows group tours to 60 countries.

In late March, Hungary welcomed its first group of Chinese tourists after three pandemic years. The 22 visitors, who arrived in the country for a nine-day stay, were greeted by Hungarian government officials at Budapest Airport.

"This is my third visit to Hungary," said Lou Zhiyuan, 60, who flew in from China's Guangzhou city and had just retired. She signed up for the tour group immediately when the possibility opened up. She last visited Hungary eight years ago.

European tourism, which was badly hit by the pandemic, is expected to recover speedily with the return of Chinese tourists.

Chinese tourists made 22.2 million overnight stays in the EU in 2019. Due to the pandemic, this number fell to 3 million in 2020 and declined further to 1.6 million in 2021, according to the EU's statistical office Eurostat.

Before the pandemic, Croatia welcomed more than 300,000 visitors from China each year. "We will do everything in our power to facilitate the arrival and stay of Chinese tourists in Croatia," said Kristjan Stanicic, director of the Croatian National Tourist Board.

Direct flights between Athens and Shanghai were also launched in December, after direct flights between Athens and Beijing began in 2017.

"We are a Chinese-ready airport," said Ioanna Papadopoulou, director of communications and marketing at Athens International Airport, where virtual assistants help Chinese tourists with information in their own language.

According to the ETC, Chinese tourists are still rare in France, although it was the most popular destination for them outside Asia before the pandemic.

"After three years of pandemic life, Chinese travel agencies have lost contact with Europe's hotels and car rental agencies. In the short term, it is difficult to return to the preferential prices we could offer them before the pandemic," said Liu Yuan, a tour operator in France.

But for Luka, at least he could count on the returning Chinese tourists for a much more stable job.

Xinhua