Political tensions between the US and China risk damaging tourism’s recovery, According to CNBC, the U.S. Transportation Department plans to issue a revised order in the coming days that is likely to allow some Chinese passenger airline flights to continue, government and airline officials said. China said it would ease coronavirus restrictions to allow more foreign carriers to fly to the mainland, shortly after Washington said it planned to bar Chinese passenger airlines from flying to the United States by June 16 due to Beijing’s curbs on U.S. airlines.
Following news that the US has announced it will ban mainland Chinese airlines from serving the US from June 16; Ben Cordwell, Travel & Tourism Analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers his view on the current situation: “The move from the US comes as Beijing continues to block US carriers from resuming service to China under a decision on March 26 by the Civil Aviation Authority of China (CAAC), which was designed to protect the country from the COVID-19 pandemic. If the political point-scoring does not draw to a close, there will be serious consequences for the tourism industry in both countries.
“The US is the third-largest source market for China, whilst China is the fifth largest source market for the US. Both countries will rely on visitors from one another to restart the tourism economy, however, the current political situation puts that in serious jeopardy.
“A ban on airlines between the countries puts a physical barrier in place for travellers. However, the social fracturing that these disputes cause will have a longer-lasting effect. According to GlobalData’s Coronavirus (COVID-19) Consumer Survey, 19% of Chinese respondents have no trust in American products, whilst 27% of American respondents have no trust in Chinese products.
“The US Transportation Department said that the block on Chinese airline service is necessary to restore the competitive balance between US and Chinese carriers. However, the longer the dispute rumbles on, the more damage it will cause US airlines. Both countries need to quickly resolve the issue, or risk making recovery an enormous task for tourism businesses.”
Source : traveldailynews
