BEIJING/SYDNEY (Reuters) – Widely watched airfares in China are recovering to pre-pandemic levels as domestic tourists lead a patchy air travel recovery, scattering crumbs of hope to a shattered global travel sector.
With international markets like Europe still in partial lockdown, the global tourism industry’s attention is riveted on China’s new travel patterns as it brings COVID-19 under control and lifts curbs on movement.
The Chinese domestic market quietly overtook the once-dominant U.S. market in size during the pandemic, but multiple coronavirus outbreaks before last month’s Lunar New Year halted the rebound and could lead to first-quarter losses.
