CHINA. Bookings for travel to Hainan Island over the forthcoming Chinese New Year period are strongest in Guangdong Province, according to leading travel analytics company ForwardKeys. The latest data is based on issued tickets for the forthcoming holiday period.
However, fears over the spread of COVID-19 have hit bookings from some regions in recent weeks, said the analyst, with tickets issued in Beijing slowing in particular compared to a year ago. Around 1.6 million people living in the Daxing area have been ordered not to travel unless they have special permission and produce negative COVID-19 test results within three days before their trip.
ForwardKeys’ Xiamen-based China Market Expert Nan Dai said: “Looking at the ticketing history for Chinese travel to Hainan it is more evident that fewer people are buying tickets over the past few weeks, due to the recent regional outbreaks and strengthened government measures to discourage travel amongst the provinces.
But Dai added: “The Chinese government has more experience in dealing with the outbreak situation now and people have started to administer the vaccine. I believe when the Winter is gone, the outlook for Chinese domestic travel in Summer is still optimistic.”
Hainan’s status as the world’s travel retail hotspot – underlined by our story today about sales projections for 2021 – is reinforced by data about transactional spend from ForwardKeys’ Chinese Shopper Tracker. The analyst said that the average transaction value in offshore duty free reached US$589 in December compared to US$435 a year earlier.
The share of those spending more than US$1,000 also increased from 9.9% in December 2019 to 14.3% in December 2020, as allowances were increased and spending limits raised from 1 July.
“This confirms that not only are more duty free purchases being made in Hainan but also at a higher price point,” said Nan Dai.
In the past three months, Chinese Shopper Tracker data shows that beauty is still the leading category, broken down by skincare (20.7%), makeup (13.4%) and fragrances (8.6%). Other categories are taking advantage of the new allowances in Hainan, such as electronics (17.4% share) and spirits (8.4% share).
Hainan Island: Travel retail’s global hotspot The Moodie Davitt Report will publish a Hainan Island Special Report with the China edition of The Magazine in February 2021. Written by Martin Moodie and Dermot Davitt, it will explore how the offshore duty free business in China has become critical to the world’s leading brands across many categories. 海南:旅游零售业的全球焦点 穆迪戴维特报告(Moodie Davitt Report)将于2021年2月随The Magazine的中文版发表《海南特别报道》。该篇由马丁·穆迪(Martin Moodie)和德莫特·戴维特(Dermot Davitt)撰写,将探讨中国的离岸免税业务是如何变得对跨类别的各大全球领先品牌至关重要。 报告将覆盖以下内容:
The report will feature:
Contact Irene@MoodieDavittReport.com to partner with The Moodie Davitt Report for this special edition. |