In recent weeks, airlines have been chasing flights to China one by one. According to forecasts, only in the summer will tourists return to China, and Chinese tourists will reach their favorite destinations outside the country.

• Concern about the Corona virus in China

  Photo:

  Reuters

It is still early to determine when medical quarantine will be lifted on China, but by now it can be seen that the world is beginning to understand how China is a major factor in the world economy. In recent weeks, airlines have been chasing flights to China one by one, and by the end of the week more than 10,000 flights have already been canceled.

The main casualties of the quarantine are the Chinese airlines, which canceled all domestic flights. The Chinese aviation market is currently accelerating, and is estimated to be the largest in the world by 2028.

China is the world's largest exporter of tourists. It grew from 4.5 million tourists leaving in 2000 to 150 million Chinese going abroad in 2018. By 2020, that number was expected to reach 300 million, after the number of passport holders doubled from 10 percent to 20 percent of the population. Chinese tourists are also spending a great deal of money on their travels, according to UNWTO, which spent $ 277 billion last year, or 26 percent of global tourism spending, which came to $ 1.7 trillion.

The absence of Chinese tourists will seriously hurt some countries, but first and foremost it will hit Hong Kong, reaching 29 million tourists from China last year. Macau reached 27.5 million Chinese, Thailand 10.1 million, Japan 9.25 million, and Korea 6.25 million tourists from China. Vietnam (4.8 million), Singapore (36), Malaysia (3.1) Cambodia (2.7) and Taiwan (2.7 million) will also be hit. Australians are also building big tourism from China, though less than a million Chinese tourists come to it a year. Canada hosts 700,000 tourists from China each year, mainly from Vancouver, where there is a large community of Chinese and Hong Kong immigrants.

The main casualty. Hong Kong // Photo: AP

China itself is also one of the world's major tourist destinations. Tourism to China is also growing at a rapid pace, with attractions such as the Forbidden City in Beijing, the Great Chinese Wall, the Terracotta Army near Xi'an, the Tibet region, the Chengdu panda bears and Guilin's amazing views. The accelerated growth rate required the Chinese to train pilots and maintenance personnel, and also to hire the services of pilots outside China.

According to data from the end of 2017, the latest released, in China, operates more than 5,500 passenger jets, has 236 airports, eight large passenger carriers and eight other cargo carrier companies. In addition, they operate in China more than twenty small airlines operating mainly domestic flights of up to two hours. According to data from Boeing, in 2018, 800 billion miles per passenger were made in China.

China's aviation industry is not just tourism. It flies raw materials, finished products, assembly parts to all industrialized countries. China's consumer market is the world's largest, and more than 20 percent of the world's largest corporations operate in China. After the Corona virus crisis, business in China will continue as usual. For airlines, this means continued growth in business travel to and from China.

Most Western airlines regularly fly to China for a number of destinations, with Beijing's new airport destined to meet the growing demand for flights to the capital, after the previous port has almost reached its capacity limit. On the websites of the Chinese Tourism Authority, users are trying to calm down and invite them to take a visit after February.

According to the World Health Organization, the recovery of tourism in areas where an epidemic broke out lasts between six and eight months. If that is the case this time around, it will only be in the summer that tourists will return to China and Chinese tourists will reach their favorite destinations outside the country.