00:00Simon Calder is a travel broadcaster and commentator.
00:04I think this is a fantastic bit of news and it is simply going to open up China to the
00:11British in a way that it's never been possible to access before.
00:15And also worth mentioning the Canadian market as well. Really important the number of outbound tourists from there.
00:21And I think it's going to manifest its benefits in several ways.
00:25First of all, you're actually going to see quite a lot of younger independent travellers who at the moment are
00:33deterred by the visa rules from going to China and exploring.
00:37And they've tended to be elsewhere in Asia, Thailand, Vietnam and so on because the rules have been easier there.
00:45So I think they will go in. That will bring immediate benefits.
00:49They also tend to be the kinds of tourists who are closer to the community.
00:54And longer term, of course, the more that people get to understand China, the more that great reports will come
01:01back.
01:02And hopefully more people will go to their emotional enrichment as well as the economic benefits.
01:08And it's not just tourism visitors, is it? It's actually business travel as well.
01:13This should open up things for them.
01:14It's a really important move, which I think will greatly enhance trade on both sides, because at the moment, yes,
01:23if you until this rule took effect, you were having to really do quite a lot of work.
01:30And you might be thinking, actually, I'll look at different markets and different business partners.
01:34But if you can now just get on an aircraft touchdown in Shanghai or Guangzhou or Beijing, wherever, and immediately
01:42get to work with your Chinese partners, that's vastly going to improve the situation for business travellers.
01:49So we're probably going to see an uptick there, travel between China, UK, Canada also.
01:55One place where travel does seem to be declining is the United States, partly due to the political climate.
02:00How damaging could that be for their travel industry?
02:03Well, we are already seeing the effects in terms of the visitor numbers.
02:08There was just a snapshot last August, for instance, an absolute peak month for travel for every 12 visitors who
02:16were there in the U.S. from abroad in 2024.
02:19There were only 11 last year.
02:22And the travel industry sources are telling me that that process is actually accelerating.
02:27Clearly, with the Football World Cup happening in June and July this year, normally the U.S. would be expecting
02:35a huge surge in visitor numbers.
02:37In fact, the latest figures I have suggest that fares to the U.S. are actually declining because demand is
02:44so soft.
02:45Well, I wanted to ask you about the World Cup.
02:47As you say, you'd normally expect that to be a boost.
02:49But actually, some people are suggesting they will travel to neighbouring countries and just travel in to see the matches.
02:55It might not be as big as a boost as had been expected.
02:58Well, certainly the American domestic travel market is so vast and rich and important and busy that there will probably
03:06be plenty of business for hoteliers, for the domestic airlines and so on.
03:13But yes, in terms of bringing people in and the, of course, valuable cash that they bring with them, yeah,
03:21we are seeing a potential downturn.
03:24Although, ultimately, talking to fans, for instance, of England and Scotland, they say that nothing is going to stop them
03:30following their team, hopefully, all the way to the final.
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