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The global financial crisis has spread pain to almost every corner of the world. However, the Chinese tourism industry, after enduring a series of Job-like affiliations, sees a winter light at the end of long fall.
 
According to the information from several large travel agencies in China, the number of people traveling abroad in October didn’t fall; instead, it took the uphill trend. It was mainly attributed to the nosedive of the exchange rate of Euro and AUD against the RMB. At the same time, the prices of some "noble" outbound travels (the travels in Europe or Australia) fell greatly. The price of travel in Europe even fell by 4000 Yuan (USD 571.4).
 
Travel Gets Cheaper
 
The exchange rate of Renminbi against the Euro is 11.1 and 6.8 against the AUD. However, influenced by the financial crisis, the exchange rate fell to 4.5 Yuan against one AUD and 8.5 Yuan against one Euro at the minimum level. The exchange rate of RMB against the foreign currency decreased by 30%, resulting in the nosedive of the prices of the "noble travel" in Europe and Australia. The extent of nosedive varied from 1000 Yuan (USD 142.9) to 4000 Yuan (USD 571.4).
 
Take West Holiday of Guangzhou South Lake Travel Agency for example. Last year its "eight-day travel in Great Barrier Reef, Australia" cost 14999 Yuan (USD 2142.7). Because the exchange rate of AUD against the RMB suffered a great decrease, in the middle of November, the price was only 11699 Yuan (USD 1671.3). The price of "14-day travel in eleven European countries" of Guangzhilv Travel Agency, which used to be the most popular outbound travel item, fell from 23299 Yuan (USD 3328.4) in this September to 18999 Yuan (USD 2714.1) in the middle of November. The influence scope also includes the travel in South Korea. By the middle of November, the S. Korean Won (S. Korean currency) has depreciated by 30%. The price of "6-day travel around S. Korea" (including 4 flights) was 4989 (USD 712.7), down by 500 Yuan (USD 71.4) from last year.
 
The travel in Japan didn't avoid the fall in price even though the exchange rate of RMB against Yen increased. In the past years, a Chinese usually had to spend 6000 Yuan (USD 857.1) in traveling in Japan. However, in this year the travel agencies in China introduced many travel projects in Japan of 3000 Yuan (USD 428.6), which the ordinary Chinese people could afford. The whole fell by 20 percent from the last year. According to an insider from Guangdong Travel Agency, his company introduced its exclusive products through chartered flight and wholesale purchasing. In this way the whole price of traveling in Japan was pulled down.
In addition, after the cancellation of bail for the travel in Southeast Asia and America, West Holiday of Guangzhou South Lake Travel Agency took the lead in cancelling the bail for the travel in Japan. It is known that some Chinese tourists go to some developed countries and don't return. The bail aims at preventing such cases. Usually the travel agencies ask the tourists to pay 50 thousand Yuan (USD 7.14 thousand) as the bail if they want to travel in Europe, North America, South Korea, Japan and Australia. The directors of West Holiday of Guangzhou South Lake Travel Agency said: "We have cancelled the bail for travel in Japan. The tourists only need to pay for travel fees, just like travel inside Mainland China." Chen Zhichao, General Manager of this company, said that the number of tourists entering for the travels in Japan in his company had already exceeded the one for Thailand, becoming the main driven force of the company's profits of outbound travel.
 
Three Causes of the Price Decrease
 
Due to the difference in the geographic latitude, now it is the busy season of tourism in Australia, South Africa and Southeast Asia. According to the survey from the relevant research institutions, the depreciation of USD and Euro resulted in the hesitation of European and American tourists in the long distance travel. They begin to make short distance travel or reduce their sojourn time during their outbound travels. Those factors cause the obvious decrease in the number of tourists from Europe and America to Australia even though it is the busy season now.
 
"Due to the great decrease of the tourists, the local prices of hotels and transportation in Australia have decreased compared to the same period of the same year," said Chen Zhichao. The travel fee of a tourist is settled in the local currency. Due to the continuous decrease of the exchange rate of Euro and AUD against RMB, the cost of travel is much lower after being converted into RMB. Take a three-star hotel in Europe for example. The price is usually 80 Euro/room. If calculated on the basis of the exchange rate at the end of last year (RMB 11.5 Yuan against one Euro), the travel agency should pay 920 Yuan (USD 131.4) for each room. If calculated on the basis of the exchange rate in this October (RMB 8.7 Yuan against one Euro), the travel agency only needs to pay 696 Yuan (USD 99.4) per room.
 
In the market of outbound travel in Guangdong Province, South China, the profits from the tourism in the areas with USD as the settlement currency, such as the USA, Canada, New Zealand, South Korea, take one fifth of the total income of the travel agencies. And the profits from the popular tourism destination like Europe, Australia, Japan, Southeast Asia take 70 percent of the turnover of the travel agencies. If calculated by RMB, the travel agencies can increase their income in the outbound travels through exchange despite no increment in the number of tourists compared with last year.
 
The fall of the exchange rate and the local price both attribute to the decrease of the outbound travel prices. The drop of the international oil price also has relations with the travel fees. Each large airline company may adjust the additional tax in the future. This is the third factor. According to an insider from the Outbound Travel Department of Guangzhilv Travel Agency, the Australian airlines decreased the amount of the oil tax by 200 Yuan (USD 28.6) to 400 Yuan (USD 57.1). In the middle of November, Emirates adjusted the ticket price of the morning flight from Beijing, downward by 36%. Because the international oil price still takes the trend of fluctuation, the travel agencies in China hold the waiting and watching attitude toward the adjustment to the oil additional tax. They are still hoping for the drop of the oil fees of each airline. The insider predicted that the price of travel in Australia in this year is the cheapest in the history.
 
"One character of outbound travel is that there is one-month time difference between the settlement of the price and the start of the journey. The effect of the status quo may be not shown until next Spring Festival," said the senior analyst of Guangdong tourism industry Wang Jian. In his opinion, with the appreciation of RMB, the market of inbound travel in China will be confronted with more challenges. The possibilities that the local prices in foreign countries will increase after the global financial crisis. So the way of Chinese tourism industry next year is still complicated and confusing.
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