Experts have warned of the dangers of Chinese New Year’s movement around the world

Russians planning a trip to the warm seas in February are in shock: prices out of the blue have inflated even the most overstuffed hotels. But tourism industry experts assure that the “place” is by no means level, this is the period of the annual pre-New Year voyages of the Chinese, after which the time of New Year will come, in Chinese chunyun. And since the resort tastes of Russians and Chinese largely coincide, it is useful to know how to survive in Chunyun for everyone who is planning a trip until mid-March.

“Back in early December, my friend and I looked at a tour to Phuket for the student holidays,” shares Moscow student Diana. – 12 days in February cost much less than the same tour, but at the end of December or January. We passed the session, returned to our tour, and it went up in price! The travel agency says that the Chinese are to blame, all budget hotels are filled with them.

And tourists who are already vacationing on the warm seas in the countries of Southeast Asia say that hotels are already conducting explanatory work with them, preparing them for the “Chinese invasion.”

“The guide of our group gathered us in the morning and let’s talk about the Chinese New Year,” says a tourist from Irkutsk, now vacationing in Nha Trang, Vietnam. “And she warned us not to make any comments to the huge and noisy Chinese companies that had already begun to move into our hotel.

Lunar New Year, also known as Chunjie (Chinese New Year and Spring Festival), is really much more important for the Chinese than European New Year’s Eve, which many of them skip altogether. The Chinese wait for the New Year holidays all year, and this year they are full-fledged for the first time since the pandemic, only now Chinese citizens can go to their favorite resorts, most of which are in the southeast of the Asian continent, without any restrictions. This is why tourists from other countries in this region are urged to be understanding and patient.

“This year Chuntze falls on February 10, and the New Year holidays will last until February 24,” says sinologist Andrei Zimin. – Everyone is trying to go somewhere abroad, especially now, when everyone has been stuck for too long during the pandemic. And for the national holidays, the majority also take vacation or time off for chunyun.

– Tourists who are just asking the price for travel packages say that travel agents are already scaring them with this “chunyun”!

– There is something to be afraid of, since in the next 1.5 months certain destinations will be loaded to capacity with the Chinese, which will affect the availability of places on transport and in hotels and, of course, on prices. Chunyun is an ancient tradition of visiting relatives, wherever they live, and personally congratulating them on the New Year. But since the New Year itself, which lasts two weeks, is traditionally meant to rest and relax, the Chinese are given a month before Chunjie and a month after to visit relatives around the world. This is reasonable, since there are Chinese diasporas in the most remote corners of the planet. My Chinese partner, for example, on February 1 flies alone to New York, where his relatives live, and his wife, meanwhile, flies to Germany, where her relatives live. And on February 8, they both return to Beijing, take the children and fly to Phuket for a New Year’s holiday.

– But if each of the one and a half billion Chinese does this, it’s… chunyun to the February holiday of everyone except the Chinese!

– This happens every year, the only exception was during the pandemic. In general, on their New Year, the Chinese most like to relax in Thailand, the Maldives and Vietnam. But sometimes some of these areas can be ignored for their own reasons.

According to those in the know, this year the Maldives, formerly very beloved by the Chinese, promises to become such an “oasis.”

“India quarreled with the Maldives and called on China not to go to them,” says Katya, the Russian wife of a Chinese businessman from Shanghai. – China is friends with India, so many listened, at least in my husband’s circle, and he has business with India. So instead of the traditional Maldives, we fly to Lakshadweep, these are the Indian “Maldives”.

A “carpet” survey of experts in China regarding the Chunjie features of this particular year confirms the official statistics: this year’s chunyun is a record one. On the very first day of the “spring holiday season”, which is considered to be January 26, 189 million Chinese went on trips, which is 19.7% more than a year ago. The Chinese tourism industry predicts about 9 billion trips by its citizens from January 26 to March 5.

Meanwhile, Chinese tourists have already begun to fill their favorite resorts on warm seas, and others have begun to complain about them. The first to be hit was the Thai resort island of Phuket.

– It’s only been a day since we arrived, and I already feel like I’m in China! – Muscovite Yulia, vacationing in Phuket, describes the first Chinese swallows to check into their hotel. – There are crowds of 10 or more people walking around, everyone is wearing masks and talking very loudly. They are not only on the beach, they don’t sunbathe, for them tanning is bad manners. They only walk along the shore in their clothes and go on boat trips, but they don’t take up sunbeds. And 20 people are loaded into the boats, it’s scary whether these boats can withstand such a crowd! Our group is grumbling – they say, what a Chinese invasion! And our guide: what else! From March 1, Thailand will begin allowing Chinese citizens in without visas, then everyone will be able to see what real chunyun is!