As China's post-Covid travel boom hits, the Middle East is where all roads lead

When Ian Sun finally began travelling again earlier this year, the Shanghainese abandoned his original plan to visit Europe, instead opting to fly to Egypt.

Despite spending three years through the Covid-19 pandemic dreaming about traversing the European continent, a cheaper airfare to Egypt swayed the 30-year-old manager to change his mind.

It was a decision that saw him fall in love with the country's rich, colourful history and friendly people - and now he has set his sights on Iran as his next travel destination as he continues his exploration of the Middle East.

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"The trip [to Egypt] has changed my impression of Arab countries dramatically, which I had previously found mysterious because of some of my stereotypical ideas about them. But now I feel that we are just different; nothing good or bad," he said.

Ian is just one of many travellers now flocking to the Middle East and North Africa from China - part of a travel boom to the region that took off in the post-pandemic era. Top of the destination list is the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia and Egypt, while Qatar, Morocco and Iran are also in the mix.

Data shows there has been a triple-digit growth in bookings to key Middle Eastern destinations in the first three months of this year compared with last year, according to Trip.com Group, China's largest online travel agency.

The UAE received a total of 1.2 million Chinese tourists last year, the country's tourism body revealed in June, adding that the tourist figure "is expected to achieve a significant increase this year".

Global advisory firm Oxford Economics also predicted China's outbound tourism recovery would be led by destinations like the Middle East. It expects the overall travel volume to return to pre-pandemic levels next year.

Two key factors behind the lure of the Middle East for Chinese tourists are the affordable airfares and the simple visa requirements, according to analysts and industry insiders. They also predicted that, given the close ties between China and Middle Eastern countries, the region is likely to outrun many of its competitors in attracting Chinese tourists.

Kyle Sun, a 25-year-old bank clerk who lives in Beijing, is among the tens of thousands of Chinese travellers who visited the Middle East during the recent May 1 "golden week" Chinese national holiday. He spent four days in Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the UAE - his first overseas travel since the pandemic.

Like Ian, Kyle was initially drawn to the Middle East by its lower costs compared with European destinations.

"Europe and America are too far and costly; meanwhile, going to Japan, South Korea, and Thailand does not give me the feeling of long-distance travel. Therefore, I chose Dubai," he said.

According to Kyle, his return airfare between Shanghai and Dubai was only around 3,700 yuan (US$510) during the golden week holidays - about a quarter of the price of a return ticket to Paris.

The quick resumption of flights between China and the Middle East once travel restrictions were lifted after the pandemic has helped keep airfare prices down. Weekly flights have now surpassed pre-pandemic levels, according to Carnoc, China's civil aviation data platform. Egypt and Saudi Arabia have even doubled the number of flights to China from their 2019 levels, and Saudi Arabia and Qatar have indicated they intend to further increase the number of direct flights with China soon.

Zhou Tao, head of hotels and hospitality group at JLL in Greater China, said the latest travel boom has come about because of the closer ties forged by the Belt and Road Initiative.

"With the deepening of cooperation between China and the Middle East under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, the number of flights between China and the Middle East have increased and grown rapidly," he said.

Simple visa requirements have also played a large part in the increased number of Chinese tourists, who often complain about the cumbersome visa process of Western countries.

Currently, most Middle Eastern and North African travel destinations offer visa-free travel or landing visas for Chinese citizens, including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Morocco, Egypt, Iran and Tunisia.

Such convenience is crucial for tourists like Kyle, who works for a Chinese state bank and prefers destinations that require less paperwork or vetting.

"I can only leave China twice a year under the bank's rules ... so I would pick countries which offer visa-free treatment because there will be fewer issues involved," he said.

A growing number of employees from China's government and state-affiliated companies are watched closely by Beijing on their international travels. Such a restrictive policy has expanded to an unprecedented number of employees in the public sector.

Fan Hongda, a professor at the Middle East Studies Institute at Shanghai International Studies University, said China's strained relations with Western countries may also further explain the increased interest in the Middle East among Chinese tourists.

"China's relations with the West are not in the best of times. The current state of relations might be a reason why some people want to visit the Middle East instead of the West," he said.

Beijing has flagged the US, Canada and Britain as risky countries to travel to, after they introduced travel advisories to China amid Beijing's growing anti-espionage drive.

In contrast, China and Middle Eastern nations have been actively promoting people-to-people exchanges, from the public to private sectors.

For example, Arabian Travel Market trade show held in Dubai last month boasted double the number of Chinese exhibitors and travel professionals compared with 2019, including private Chinese agencies and tourism heads of local governments.

Saudi Tourism Minister Ahmed Al-Khateeb told the Post that major Middle Eastern countries, including Saudi Arabia which only opened its doors to Chinese tourists in 2019, see China as a crucial source of foreign tourists and the potential for growth is huge.

Iran did not offer visa-free privileges to Chinese tourists until 2019. After China reopened its border in late 2022, senior officials from the two countries have held around 10 meetings focusing on people-to-people and tourism policy exchanges, according to data collected by the Post.

But although the Middle East is winning the competition of attracting Chinese travellers following the pandemic, the West has also begun to return to the game.

According to Trip.com Group, the US, Australia and Britain saw a threefold increase in outbound bookings from Chinese travellers, while European countries like Spain, Austria, Italy and Georgia also doubled, largely thanks to a growing number of flights.

But Zhou from JLL still predicted that Chinese tourism to the Middle East would keep increasing as the two sides continue to work together.

"Cooperation and exchanges between China and countries in the Middle East are still deepening, and such exchanges will mean greater convenience and more choices for Chinese tourists, and that will lead to further development and boom of tourism in the Middle East region," he said.

"Therefore, even if airfares in Europe and the United States fall, the advantages for Chinese tourists travelling to the Middle East will continue."

Many Chinese tourists who want an international travel experience while not spending too much money or having to jump through too many visa hoops are opting for Middle Eastern locations, such as Dubai in the UAE, pictured. Photo: Reuters alt=Many Chinese tourists who want an international travel experience while not spending too much money or having to jump through too many visa hoops are opting for Middle Eastern locations, such as Dubai in the UAE, pictured. Photo: Reuters>

But he pointed out that conflicts in the region - from Israel to Iran - could impede the travel boom.

Fan from Shanghai International Studies University said that as more Chinese people become attracted to exploring culturally vibrant and novel travel destinations, "the mysterious yet attractive" Middle East will be on their shortlists.

"In China, if one has the financial power to travel to foreign countries, they may have been to the US and Europe many times, so the Middle East is clearly the next attractive destination to them," he said.

This is true for Eva Liang, 27, who finds the Middle East is the global destination that attracts her the most.

The Shanghainese consultant, who has lived and worked in London for two years, has travelled to Iran, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon and Syria since end of the Covid-19 pandemic.

"I first travelled to Iran, and I was quickly dazzled by its culture and history, and I was able to have a close look at the country without filters. [This experience] has fuelled my interest and I now want to travel to the region again, explore different places including war zones," Liang said.

During her time living in London, she has travelled to nearly all Western countries, but she said her tour to the Middle East gave her "an objective way to see the world".

"When I am in the Middle East, I can see the region with relative objectivity and I am not influenced by the media from around the world," she said.

This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2024 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

Copyright (c) 2024. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.