OT: Banning the TikTok Tourism Influencers.

[jlwdm]

Foreign traveluu by Chinese is way down. 40% fewer trips in 2023 versus 2019 and down more this year.

Jeff

[peanutgallery]

They're supposedly in the midst of a real estate crisis. We'll finally find out for sure in 2038

Originally Posted by jlwdm

Foreign traveluu by Chinese is way down. 40% fewer trips in 2023 versus 2019 and down more this year.

Jeff

[Mr. Pink]

Originally Posted by peanutgallery

They're supposedly in the midst of a real estate crisis. We'll finally find out for sure in 2038

Not sure where you get the 2038 number from. They haven't recovered from the severe Covid lockdown, and youth unemployment is almost off the charts. The real estate bubble (all the empty apartments in ghost cities) started to pop pre Covid, and now it's in a dismal state. Older and mid aged Chinese held them as investments and retirement savings, because they didn't trust their stock market. Xi and the party just announced a huge stimulus plan which sent the stock markets soaring, and also was meant to at least stop the bleeding in RE. We'll see if it works, but, doubtful. This is what got the Japanese in trouble for the few decades after their RE bubble popped. Market economies need a recession or two to clear out the junk.

So, anyway, I'm guessing the middle to upper middle class Chinese aren't feeling as flush as they were to take on foreign travel.

[.RJ]

Originally Posted by Mr. Pink

Not sure where you get the 2038 number from.

I'm assuming because the gov't goes to great lengths to control the messaging that it will be a long time before we know the truth about things happening inside China's borders.

[Fat Cat]

I have to admit that my sympathy bucket ran dry some time ago

[Red Tornado]

Originally Posted by XXtwindad

Again, it’s just an idea. But I think it would be more involved than a typical B&B. Finding hosts who are well versed in local history and able to share it. More interactive than a BnB and less impersonal than AirBnB. I’m sure something like it already exists.

Agree.
In my situation, the co-workers and/or families were not only hosts for meals but also tour guides. On weekends, we spent the better part of the day together.

[gone]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

The biggest impact that I observed was the large obnoxious tour groups, mostly of older folks just along for the ride. I refer to them as the "walking dead", just following the leader taking the dime tour, clogging the small streets and sidewalks of euro cities.

How inconsiderate of them. Don't they know they're supposed to be shut-ins or, better yet, that they should die rather than be in YOUR way?

Entitled much?

[AngryScientist]

Originally Posted by gone

How inconsiderate of them. Don't they know they're supposed to be shut-ins or, better yet, that they should die rather than be in YOUR way?

Entitled much?

Geez, this forum has lost a lot of etiquette and gotten just nasty toward each other sometimes. Would you talk to me like that in real life internet tough guy?

My point was that these large groups clog small spaces unlike smaller groups do. When 100 people need to gather around the tour group leader in a stationary spot it doesnt allow others to pass. They are basically lost without contact with the tour leader so they are reluctant to move or get out of the way of others.It's just bad common courtesy.

[gone]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

Geez, this forum has lost a lot of etiquette and gotten just nasty toward each other sometimes. Would you talk to me like that in real life internet tough guy?

Yeah, actually I would.

It's *incredibly* difficult for older people to work up the courage to travel. Shuffling along like "the walking dead" in tour groups with other "walking dead" lets them escape the boredom of living out their days alone.

Good on them.