The peak of outbound travel cannot be regained; how should Chinese tourists be received?
At a roundtable forum at the 2026 Global Travel News Accommodation Industry Summit, representatives from InterContinental Hotels Group, MSC Mediterranean Cruises, and Visit Finland judged that China's outbound travel has entered an era of shrinking development, and the pre-pandemic peak is difficult to reproduce. Wu Zhaohong of Visit Finland said that since May, passenger flow to most European destinations has declined year-on-year, summer performance has been bleak, and the slow recovery of flight routes is the main reason. Industry players proposed using cruises to link Nordic destinations, combining them with in-depth hotel products, and increasing investment in direct sales and membership systems to compete for Chinese tourists.