Air China has upped its frequencies from one weekly direct flight between Shenzhen and Johannesburg, to thrice-weekly. The flights land in South Africa on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. This is in addition to six weekly non-direct flights from Beijing.
Southern Africa’s inbound industry has been eagerly awaiting the restarting of leisure travel by Chinese inbound groups.
Air China GM for South Africa, Joe Hu, said that demand for the flights was high, particularly because more than 200 Chinese companies are based in South Africa.
“We are happy to be able to increase our frequencies to South Africa again after COVID and will look at expanding our services to other cities in China based on demand.”
China’s Deputy Consul General in Johannesburg, Yujiang Zhou, said the hospitality sector in the city was eagerly awaiting the expected influx of Chinese tourists.
“Recently we engaged with about 20 hotels in this city alone. Each and every one of them is excited and expects a huge number of Chinese tourists. This first flight is just the beginning,” said Zhou.
Charles Wang, Business Development Executive at tour operator Walk Through Africa Tours, said the opening of the Chinese market would provide a welcome relief to his business.
“China was our main market prior to COVID and these past few years have been extremely difficult. We are very happy that the market is eventually open and that we can start hosting groups again,” said Wang.
