[北京 ２７日 ロイター] – Searches on travel sites surged on Monday after Chinese authorities announced they would ease three years of strict immigration restrictions.
China’s National Health Commission announced on the 26th that it will lift the quarantine requirement when entering the country on January 8, 2020.
Due to the change in the “zero corona policy”, the new corona has spread all over China, but according to official statistics, one person died in the seven days until the 26th.
Data from travel website Ctrip showed that searches for popular destinations increased tenfold in the first 30 minutes after the news broke. Macau, Hong Kong, Japan, Thailand and South Korea are said to be particularly popular.
Data from Trip.com showed a 254% increase in international flight bookings from the previous day as early as Thursday.
China’s economy is expected to rebound sharply in the second half of next year, but the coming weeks and months will be tougher as more workers are infected.
In places like Shanghai and Beijing, many shops have been forced to close in recent days as workers have not been able to come to work. In some factories, many workers are already on vacation before the Lunar New Year holiday at the end of January.
“Concerns remain about temporary disruptions in the supply chain as workers are affected by the virus,” analysts at JPMorgan said in a note. Tracking traffic conditions on subways in 29 Chinese cities showed many people were restricting movement as the virus spread.
“Foreign travel is expected to increase, but it could take a long time to return to pre-pandemic levels,” said Dan Wang, chief economist at Hang Seng Bank in China.
“The coronavirus is still spreading across most of China, significantly disrupting work schedules. Productivity losses are high and inflationary pressures will intensify in the coming months as surging demand outweighs supply recovery. It is possible,” he said.
