CBN丨Chinese hotel searches for Japan triple after visa policy relaxation

Hi everyone. I’m Stephanie LI.

Coming up on today’s program

• Hotel searches for Japan soar after introducing 10-year visas for Chinese tourists;
• China revises up 2023 GDP to 129.4 trillion yuan.

Here’s what you need to know about China in the past 24 hours

Chinese tourists' searches for Japanese accommodations have tripled following an agreement between the two nations to strengthen bilateral ties, including Japan's introduction of 10-year tourist visas.

Hotel searches for Japanese destinations grew threefold over the past week, according to data from online travel platforms.

The foreign ministers of China and Japan reached 10 key agreements yesterday, including enhanced tourism cooperation and new measures to promote bilateral travel.

Japan will extend the maximum length of multiple-entry visas from five years to 10 years, while the maximum stay for groups of tourists will also be increased from 15 days to 30 days. It follows China's decision to add Japan to its visa-free entry scheme last month, allowing visitors to stay for up to 30 days.

Visa experts at Ctrip predict increased Chinese tourism to Japan following the relaxed visa requirements and extended group visa durations. The new 10-year visa is expected to particularly benefit high-income travelers.

Flight searches on Qunar for Tokyo and Osaka rose 20 percent as of yesterday week-on-week, with the two cities ranking second and third among outbound destinations. Lesser-known destinations such as Hakodate, Otaru, and Izu saw hotel searches more than triple from the previous week.

Based on Qunar's hotel booking data, Japan leads all outbound destinations for Chinese tourists during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday. Within Japan, Chinese tourists are primarily interested in Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya. Airfares remain competitive, with Beijing-Osaka flights in late February priced at 600 yuan, down from around 2,000 yuan in January.

Ctrip reports Japan as Chinese tourists' top outbound destination this year. Despite flight capacity between China and Japan reaching only 75 percent of 2019 levels, Chinese bookings to Japan have surpassed pre-pandemic figures.

Japan particularly appeals to younger Chinese travelers. According to Ctrip, tourists born after 1980 account for 41 percent of bookings. Travelers from major cities including Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and Hangzhou show the strongest interest in Japanese destinations.

• China on Thursday revised up its 2023 gross domestic product (GDP) by 2.7 percent to 129.4 trillion yuan, or 3.4 trillion yuan more than the preliminary figure, the National Bureau of Statistics said Thursday.
• The World Bank has revised up China's real GDP growth for this year and next to 4.9 percent and 4.5 percent, respectively, while underlining the necessity of ramping up structural reforms alongside stimulus measures to reinvigorate growth. In its latest China Economic Update released on Thursday, the World Bank said the projections were revised up by 0.1 and 0.4 percentage points, respectively, compared to the June publication.
• China's Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development has pledged to continue efforts to stabilize the real estate market and reverse its downturn in 2025. China will focus on unlocking housing demand by fully implementing a mix of policies to support people's needs for buying their first homes or improving their housing conditions, said a ministry official during a two-day work conference that ended Wednesday.

Greater Bay Area, Greater future

• Shenzhen is making significant strides towards its goal of becoming a "City of Superchargers," with a total of 1,002 supercharging stations having been built to date, according to the Shenzhen Municipal Development and Reform Commission yesterday. This achievement marks a breakthrough, particularly following an April milestone when the number of supercharging stations surpassed that of traditional gas stations in the city.

Next on industry and company news

• Xiaomi Auto announced a charging network alliance with Nio, Xpeng, and Li Auto yesterday, integrating over 14,000 Nio, 9,000 Xpeng, and 6,000 Li Auto charging piles into its charging map, allowing users to view real-time station data and pay seamlessly via the Xiaomi Auto app.
• JD.Com yesterday announced another upgrade to its customer service staff’s salary and benefits, granting over 20,000 workers an average pay increase of two months’ salary, after a 30 percent raise in February. Founder Richard Liu personally purchased 80,000 boxes of chocolates as New Year’s gifts to employees.
• China Eastern plans to begin operating round-trip flights between Shanghai and Hong Kong using the homegrown C919 passenger plane starting Jan. 1. The airline will become the first to run regular commercial flights to the SAR using this aircraft.
• The Shanghai-Suzhou-Huzhou High-Speed Railway officially opened today, connecting the three cities with a seamless 164 km route. The journey from Shanghai Hongqiao to Huzhou now takes only 55 minutes.

Wrapping up with a quick look at the stock market

Chinese stocks gained on Thursday. The benchmark Shanghai Composite added 0.1 percent and the Shenzhen Component rose 0.7 percent. 

Executive Editor: Sonia YU

Editor: LI Yanxia

Host: Stephanie LI

Writer: Stephanie LI

Sound Editor: Stephanie LI

Graphic Designer: ZHENG Wenjing, LIAO Yuanni

Produced by 21st Century Business Herald Dept. of Overseas News.

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