With U.S.-South Africa ties in the deep freeze, it was notable to see the sheer size of the U.S. delegation sent to this week’s Mining Indaba in Cape Town – one of the most prominent industry gatherings and one of the few where the Global South gets a prominent voice.
The Trump administration’s famous Afrophobia seems (momentarily at least) tempered by its greed for minerals. It is reportedly walking ...
Category: Tourism
Chinese New Year Travel: Southeast Asia Back in Focus
China’s Lunar New Year travel surge is once again reshaping tourism flows across the Global South, with Southeast Asia emerging as a key beneficiary, though not uniformly. Outbound trips have rebounded strongly, but geopolitics, visa policies, and safety perceptions are increasingly ...
Visa-Free Brazil Lowers the Stakes for Chinese Firms Eyeing Latin America
As Brazil rolls out a visa-free regime for Chinese passport holders, observers see the move as going beyond tourism. It is a catalyst for China’s already flourishing investment in the Latin American powerhouse. Brazil has become a major destination for Chinese ...
China Warns Citizens Against Japan Travel During Lunar New Year
China warned its citizens on Monday against travelling to Japan during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, citing deteriorating public security, with Tokyo and Beijing locked in a diplomatic spat. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's suggestion in November that Tokyo could ...
Türkiye Goes Visa-Free for Chinese Tourists, Then Comes the Price Shock
When Türkiye announced visa-free entry for Chinese passport holders starting January 2, travel plans across China shifted overnight. Searches for “Türkiye travel” surged. Travel platform Qunar reported a 3.2-fold weekly increase, while Tongcheng Travel saw searches jump 235% day on day. ...
Thailand Turns to China to Lift Tourism With 1,000 Charter Flights
Thailand is turning to China to drive a recovery in foreign tourism, leaning on a surge of planned chartered flights. The Tourism and Sports Ministry said Thailand expects more than 1,000 charter flights from China, Macau and Taiwan through mid-2026 as authorities target a return to ...
Analysis from Cobus van Staden
China Tells Citizens to Avoid Japan Travel as Taiwan Row Grows
By Peter Catterall China has advised its citizens to avoid traveling to Japan, following a diplomatic feud sparked by remarks from Tokyo's new premier about a hypothetical attack on Taiwan. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi ...
China’s Young Travelers Unexpectedly Flood Mexico’s Día de Muertos
The number of Chinese travelers at Mexico’s Día de Muertos this year was so high that, as one WeChat article noted, “Mandarin has become the second language along the avenue.” The story, published by Lvjie News, a popular travel-focused WeChat ...
China’s Overseas Bullet Train: Malaysians Still Top Foreign Riders
China’s first overseas high-speed rail in Indonesia, the Whoosh bullet train, is carrying a steady flow of foreign passengers, and Malaysians continue to account for the largest share, the operator said. In less than two years since its inauguration in ...
Why China’s Middle-Class Families Are Flocking to Kenya for Summer Trips
In the summer of 2023, a curious travel trend began surfacing on Chinese social media feeds: middle-class parents were flying their children halfway across the world, not to Disneyland or a European city, but to Kenya’s grasslands. For China’s aspirational urban families, East Africa has suddenly become ...
China’s Hainan Islamic Pilgrimage Stopover Reveals Bigger Plans
China is quietly transforming the island of Hainan, located 20 kilometers offshore in the South China Sea, into a strategic transit hub for Muslim pilgrims from Southeast Asia, starting with Indonesian travelers seeking to make the pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, known as Umrah.
China Eases Transit Rules for Indonesians. Jakarta Should Push for More.
China’s recent inclusion of Indonesia in its 240-hour visa-free transit program is a notable, if not entirely surprising, development. While Indonesia is now among the 55 countries benefiting from this arrangement, the move signals a step forward in the broader relationship between the two nations. For ...
China’s May Day Tourists Flock to an Unlikely New Hotspot: Central Asia
Over the recent Labor Day holiday on May 1st, an unexpected destination emerged as a top choice for Chinese tourists venturing overseas: Central Asia. While Southeast Asia once dominated the list of overseas travel favorites, recent high-profile cases involving telecom fraud ...