From January 8, 2023, China’s borders will reopen, turning the current trickle of outbound Chinese travellers into a growing flood of tourists, businesspeople, students, and property investors, according to insights released today by Juwai IQI Co-Founder and Group C.E.O. Kashif Ansari.
What It Means
“The doors are about to be flung open on the world’s largest source of travellers. During the pandemic, China restricted overseas travel, reduced the number of passports it issued, and required returning Chinese to undergo Covid quarantine.
“China is going from virtually sealed off to nearly wide open in just a couple of days. From January 8, Beijing will ease most restrictions, and Chinese will again be able to travel overseas. Travellers’ priorities include visiting family and friends, studying abroad, business, tourism, and property investment. This will be the first opportunity in three years for most Chinese to visit overseas real estate markets.
“Juwai IQI Chinese buyer enquiry data reveals the top three countries for Chinese property buyers in December are Australia, the United States, and Canada.
Top Countries, Chinese Buyers, 12/2022
1 Australia
2 United States
3 Canada
4 Japan
5 Thailand
6 United Kingdom
7 Malaysia
8 United Arab Emirates
9 Vietnam
10 South Korea
Source: Juwai IQI
“We expect Chinese outbound travel and accompanying property investment to increase rapidly in January from its current very low level. We can’t bounce back to 2019 levels all at once. Outbound travel from China will snowball and may reach 2019 levels by mid-2024. “Chinese international property investment is already beginning to recover from its pandemic lows. Depending on the destination, Chinese property investment dropped by 50% to 60% during the pandemic.
The Latest Events
“China’s National Health Commission has announced that, from January 8, 2023, incoming travellers will be required to show only a negative P.C.R. test within 48 hours before departure. Until now, travellers have had to undergo five days of quarantine in a hotel or other facility and three days at home. “Chinese authorities are also rapidly issuing new passports, without the need for the special certificates from the Public Security Bureau that passport applicants have had to provide
during the pandemic, according to Chinese netizens in Beijing.
“Demand for certificates permitting travel to Hong Kong and Macau is so high that, as of December 27, the available
dates have been booked out until January 20, 2023, reported a Chinese resident of Shanghai. Chinese must renew these certificates annually.
“One Chinese internet user (see screenshot) reported, “they asked me the reason for applying for a passport, and I said I
am going to go to Thailand to look at real estate.” He said the passport renewal process took 5 minutes and cost only
CN¥120 (US$17). “China’s The Global Times reports that search volume for international air tickets increased seven-fold on travel platform qunar.com in the 15 minutes after China announced the changes to its border policy, with the most
destinations being Thailand, Japan and South Korea.
“Searches for popular cross-border destinations on travel platform Ctrip increased 10-fold within 30 minutes of the news, with Macau, Hong Kong, Japan, Thailand, and South Korea the most sought-after.
