“No“I didn’t know it would be so complicated,” a 25-year-old British woman told Lusa Agency after completing an order through the app of Luckin Coffee cafe chain, which, like many businesses in China. , stopped accepting physical money a long time ago.” I admit: I’m not ready for this”.
Julian’s experience illustrates the growing insularity of the Asian country, which this week stopped requiring travelers from overseas to test negative for Covid-19, the last sign of a ‘zero cases’ policy.
Last December, China scrapped that strategy, which included blockades of cities for weeks or even months whenever an outbreak was detected, and virtually total border closures: Anyone arriving from abroad must comply with a quarantine period. 21 days, in hotels designated by Govt.
However, nine months after borders reopened, regional data showed visitor numbers were far below pre-pandemic levels. China has not released official statistics on tourism at the national level since 2021.
Shanghai, one of the country’s top tourist destinations, received about 756,000 foreign visitors in the first half of the year, accounting for 22% of the number of arrivals recorded in 2019.
In Beijing, tour guides consulted by Lusa estimated that the number of foreigners visiting the city was also about 20% higher than in 2019.
Europeans and North Americans who have recently visited Asia have pointed to the Chinese digital ecosystem, which is isolated from the rest of the world, as one of the main obstacles for those wanting to visit China, according to Lusa Agency.
“It’s more work than it’s worth,” explained Stephan, a German who traveled to Asia in the first half of the year.
“When people travel, they don’t want to constantly worry about whether or not their Visa card will be accepted, or whether they won’t be able to access search engines and social networks,” he explained. “Any mission in China becomes a big hassle.”
China’s e-commerce, logistics services or public transport network are among the most developed in the world. In restaurants, supermarkets, train or metro stations, physical money has practically disappeared: payments are made through WeChat or Alipay digital wallets.
However, the country’s digital ecosystem remains isolated from the outside, a barrier known as the ‘Great Firewall of China’ – a sliver of the Great Wall, the country’s main former library.
Payment via VISA, Google Pay or other systems used in other countries around the world is prohibited. Social networks including Instagram or Facebook, dozens of foreign media or the Google Maps navigation service are also inaccessible.
In return, China has domestic equivalents for all foreign social networks and apps.
“China is the only country where you need to download apps that are essential for simple things like buying a drink, which may or may not work for foreigners or the English version,” explained one North American. Tourist American.
“For the average person who wants a quiet two-week vacation, it’s not worth it while enjoying Asia in Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam or Taiwan,” he noted.
Chinese officials have recognized that as the number of tourists declines, foreigners have fewer opportunities to learn about the country and interact with locals, which could be important for reducing geopolitical tensions.
“The number of people coming from Europe, America, Japan and Korea [do Sul] is declining significantly,” warned Xiao Qianhui, director of the China Tourism Association, last May. A surge in tourism could help “neutralize geopolitical tensions like what happened in ‘ping-pong diplomacy’,” warned Xiao Qianhui last May.
In 1971, the term became popular as the first sign of a thaw in relations between Beijing and Washington after China, mired in chaos and isolation caused by the Cultural Revolution, hosted the US national table tennis team. The following year, the then President of the United States, Richard Nixon, visited the country, laying the groundwork for the establishment of diplomatic relations.
Also read: China pauses and tries to restore “real” growth economy
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