PremiumCovid-19: China no longer requires quarantine for arrivals after authorities ditched the policy, along with the exorbitant cost of air fares amid severe capacity constraints, was a deterrent for travelers.
The long-awaited border reopening in China is set to spark a homecoming rush for many diaspora, though a full rebound in travel is likely to take longer. The final step of dismantling China's Covid zero will begin on Sunday, according to the Bloomberg news.
China no longer requires quarantine for arrivals after authorities ditched the policy, along with the exorbitant cost of air fares amid severe capacity constraints, was a deterrent for travelers.
However, anyone entering the country will still need a 48-hours Covid negative test result. The immediate impact is a surge of overseas Chinese coming back home, many of whom have not seen family for years.
Connor Zhao, a 25-year-old consultant who lives in San Francisco said, “I haven’t been home in almost two years, so the announcement felt like a fever dream. I’m very excited to see my parents. Getting to spend Chinese New Year with them means a lot to me."
Many countries have implemented testing requirements on travelers from China after Covid infections surged in the country, and airlines have been reluctant to immediately make major changes to their flight schedules meaning capacity remains tight and prices high.
"The willingness to travel has started to strongly rebound among Chinese. But it still takes time to be reflected in the outbound travel routes," said Chen Xin, head of China leisure and transport research at UBS Securities, Bloomberg reported.
Much of the initial inbound flow is expected to come from Hong Kong, through which many of the diaspora will travel given limited direct flights from global destinations to mainland cities.
There’s been a rush to secure spots in the daily quota of about 60,000 people allowed to travel northward from the financial hub, including 50,000 via the land borders that separate the two places, though officials have promised that capacity will be raised over time.
It is pertinent to note here that the relaxation comes a day after China began ‘chun yun’ - the 40-day period of Lunar New Year travel known prior to the pandemic as the world's largest annual migration of people. This Lunar New Year public holiday (which officially runs from January 21) will be the first since 2020 without domestic travel restrictions.
(With Bloomberg inputs)