Bookings of inbound flights to China in early Sept more than doubled on year amid easing restrictions

 

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The bookings of inbound flight to China in the first 10 days of September has more than doubled from the same period last year and surged over 30% from the same period last month, according to data from Trip.com, the largest online travel agency in China.

The number of inbound flights via Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan regions jumped nearly four times from a year year and surged nearly 60% from the previous month, showed the data.

China has been relaxing international travel restrictions. It recently removed requirements for visitors to report information on nucleic acid test results, infection status and vaccination dates.

Earlier this month, China eased rules on suspending international flights due to COVID-19, saying that flight with 5 detected infections would be suspended for one week, when the confirmed cases accounted for 4% of all onboard, and for two weeks when the confirmed cases accounted for 8%. Previously, flights with more than five but fewer than 10 COVID-19 cases had been suspended for two weeks. In June, China shortened centralized quarantine for international arrivals from 14 days to 7 days.

In August 1 – 24, a total of 685 inbound passenger flights arrived in China, with an average of 200 flights per week, rising 16% from in July. Over 30% of the flights were from South Korea and Japan, data from flight information provider VariFlight showed.