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SYDNEY, Australia – CBT Holidays, a Sydney-based tour company, hopes the reopening of China’s borders will revive Australia’s tourism sector after a year of “survival”.
In 2020, the tour company lost its largest market when Australia and China closed their borders in response to the outbreak of COVID-19. For most of 2021, CBT festivals have ceased operations due to a lack of customers.
In the year
“In the beginning, we got some compensation [the] The Australian government and the New South Wales government will be up to a year and a half,” Eric Wong, product manager at CBT Holidays, told Al Jazeera.
“And so [then] We simply closed the business.
Now, as China opens its borders from Sunday, millions of Chinese including tourists, students and business travelers are expected to travel overseas as Australian destinations for the first time in three years.
“[It’s] Good news, the Chinese border is open,” Jimmy El, owner of CBT Holidays, told Al Jazeera, asking to be referred to by his first and last name.
More or less, the business will come… and then we can get the profit again.
Still, he is wary of how long it will take for business to recover, given the lack of flights in and out of China and the high cost of fares.
“For example, before, the return ticket to China was about 1,000 Australian dollars ($688). Anna now [it’s] 8,000, 9,000 [Australian dollars] ($5,500, $6,200) … for economy,” he said.
Sun, managing director of China Travel Services, another China-focused operator in Sydney, agreed.
There are currently only “two flights” from China to Australia carrying a few hundred passengers, Sun asked Al Jazeera to be named.
While Chinese airlines are ramping up their flights to and from Australia, Australia’s national carrier Qantas has yet to announce the launch of a route to China.
“I think this will change a lot… As the airlines increase the flight schedule… I think the exchange of people between these two countries will gradually increase and gradually return to normal,” Sun said.
Little has been done by the Australian government to encourage travel between China and Australia, despite Chinese visitors accounting for 12.3 billion Australian dollars ($8.5 billion), or one-third, of total tourist spending before the outbreak.
On New Year’s Day, Australia announced that travelers from China, including Hong Kong and Macau, must present a negative COVID-19 test result before travel as the escalating cases in China could lead to new and more dangerous outbreaks for Australia.
The Australian government announced the measures – which followed similar measures including India, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States – despite the country’s chief medical officer advising that new restrictions on travel were unnecessary.
Beijing condemned the measures, saying any policy to control COVID-19 must be “reasonable” and “based on science” without affecting “normal travel and people-to-people exchange and cooperation”.
Sun said he was not too concerned about the challenges that would prevent or discourage some Chinese from traveling to Australia.
“I think that’s good… that’s very, very reasonable,” he said. “Even now, Australians or other Chinese nationals still need a 48-hour Covid test to visit China. It is the same.”
“I also think we need time – the policy can change,” he added.
But Sun said there was still a long way to go to encourage the Chinese to return en masse to Australia.
“We still need it [to] Reconnecting with these hotels, those attractions, then get new equipment, new contracts, and then we will create a new product for Chinese incoming customers, he said.
“Also, we have to meet again with the Chinese travel company[ies] To create a package tour for Australian people [travelling to China] So it should take us two months to prepare for that.”
At the same time, he said, he has learned from experience that it is important to ensure the continuity of the business by continuing to expand beyond China.
“We can’t put all our eggs in one basket,” he said, adding that CTS has already begun to expand.
In the meantime, companies like CTS are looking forward to the return of Chinese visitors.
He said he expected China to open its borders eventually, but did not expect it to be anytime soon.
“That’s why everyone knows this news, especially in this industry. They are very excited,” he said. “We are very excited. [It’s] Good news.”
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