China announces visa-free travel for Australians visiting up to 30 days (previously 15 days)

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Lets say its 3 flights a week.
6000 = 6 pax per flight
What? If SYD-PVG on QF was hypothetically 3 flights a week, and about 6,000 Australians fly to China via TripADeal per year, then there would be on average approx. 40 TripADeal pax on every QF flight to PVG, if TripADeal directs all passengers onto Qantas.
 
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If you're offering a $999 package to China including accommodation, tours and some food, I doubt they are paying the airlines much
(Not that these deals are great.. reviews suggest they are cheap because of the forced shopping trips each day, which is where the real money is made)

Yep mostly a waste of time hours each day being carted from one shop to a factory to a shop from a non-centrally located hotel in a non-tourist spot.

Not why I go to visit a country
 
From what I understand, these package tours are very low cost. I'm not sure if I would be trying to fly a route and relying on these customers to fill seats, nor would I run try to run a tour if I had to fly Qantas
 
Qantas can't make it work then they are doing something wrong.
I'm sure if Qantas had the staff cost base of some of the Chinese airlines it could be more successful.

Plus the ACCC kyboshing the continuation of the MU partnership meant it couldn't offer as attractive connections to the multitude of other Chinese cities that most have never heard of.
 
The price of the Trip a Deal to China has been reduced to $888 and the number of nights in China has been reduced to eight.

Two other travel agencies now offer very similar trips, namely Flight Centre for $990 and Asia Vacations Group for $899.
 
The ACCC did useful work with AirAsia Indonesia X when it forced them to pay refunds when they cancelled their services from MEL and SYD.

The ACCC also forced JQ to stop the practice of "drip pricing". On their website. JQ had been enticing passengers with ultra low fares, yet as the passenger tried to book these fares, additional fees kept being added.

The ACCC still does not have the power to force airlines to give cash refunds for cancelled flights. The EU forces airlines to pay cash refunds to passengers when flights are cancelled.

The EU also forces airlines to pay compensation to passengers when flights are substantially delayed. The ACCC still does not have this power.
 
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The details of the new 15 day free visa for Australians and Kiwis have not been yet revealed.

The Chinese PM did refer to the new 15 day free visa as being beneficial for business, family visits and tourism.

The new 15 day free visa would be good for Australians and Kiwis moving between HK and Shenzen on business.

I was working with several Italians and a lady from the PRC this year. The same visa was earlier introduced for Italians. I pointed out to the Italians, that Chinese airlines were selling cheap flights between Oz and Italy. The new visa meant that Italians could have a 15 day stopover in China on their way to Italy, without applying for a visa beforehand.

I asked the lady from the PRC, what would be a good place for a first time visitor who did not speak Chinese to visit. She suggested Shanghai, as many people in Shanghai speak English.
 
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It’s confirmed - Mrs SS has just wasted $185 getting multiple entry visa to China for her trip in August! Visa free travel starts in July 1.
I didnt realise there is an end date, namely 31 Dec 2025...of course this can be extended depending on how relations wirh China play out, I guess. ;)

I and +1 are planning to visit China in the 2nd 1/2 of next year. :)

 
I didnt realise there is an end date, namely 31 Dec 2025...of course this can be extended depending on how relations wirh China play out, I guess.
I read when China opened up the similar rule to the original 6 countries and thought for those countries approval was from 1 Dec 23 through to 30 Nov 24. They do seem to be expanding to other countries.
 
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I read when China opened up the similar rule to the original 6 countries and thought for those countries approval was from 1 Dec 23 through to 30 Nov 24. They do seem to be expanding to other countries.
I think a certain something has decimated desire of people to visit, so they're trying new ways of getting people to visit by reducing barriers and hurdles.
 
Now that China's Government has provided the starting date for the visa-free travel, QF should really evaluate whether they should proceed with the axing of the PVG service, even if it means reducing frequency on other routes.

I've heard multiple reports that QF's PVG service has had 100%, or close to 100% loads in the past month, and this was before the visa-free announcement. I'm sure QF would not want to miss out on this opportunity. The Australia-China market of two months ago is very different to the Australia-China market of today.


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^ Let's hope Qantas isn't in this position on 28 July 2024
 
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