Almost a quarter more trips across the country tourist reasons took place this year in China during the Lunar New Year celebrations, while overseas travel more than doubled in the first six days of the holiday week following the lifting of COVID-19-related restrictions. Since the President of China decided to completely abandon the zero-tolerance policy on the coronavirus and allow the Chinese to move freely both in and out of China, the movement has skyrocketed precisely because the Chinese cannot travel due to the coronavirus. the last three years.

A total of 308 million tourist trips were made in China during the holiday season this year, up 23.1% over 2022 Lunar New Year and up 88.6% over 2019. evidenced by data released yesterday by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

China in December began rapidly lifting stringent restrictions it had imposed as part of its “zero tolerance” policy for the coronavirus, after nearly three years of prolonged city lockdowns, slowing economic growth and problems in tourism and hospitality.

However, with regard to the ability of the Chinese to travel abroad, everything shows that it is already leading to a new wave of flight from the country and, as a result, an outflow of capital. This is because wealthy Chinese who decide to settle abroad bring big capital with them, while many others transfer money to invest in real estate and securities abroad, even if they do not intend to settle in a foreign country. Capital outflows this year are expected to exceed the $150 billion it reached in the last year before the pandemic. The wave of immigration is now assessed as big, as it was preceded by a campaign to pacify the Chinese giants, a personal political choice by President Xi Jinping, and the latest wave of the pandemic and the increase in the number of cases after the lifting of the restrictive measures revealed the inadequacy of the state health system. About 10,800 Chinese emigrated during 2022, the largest exodus since 2019.