BUSINESS travellers will be frustrated, flummoxed and frazzled by millions of travelling Chinese for the next month, logistics company International SOS says.
tag heuer replicaChinese New Year celebrations start tomorrow and 29 million more people than usual will be flying internationally in the 40-day period, general manager for International SOS New Zealand, Jeremy van de Klundert, said.
"This year's celebrations are predicted to result in 210 million travellers holidaying at the same time. That figure is up 10 per cent on last year and is the equivalent of the entire population of Indonesia or Brazil."
As one of New Zealand's key emerging trade partners, China was a regular destination for business travellers, but airports around the world would be struggling to cope with the sudden spike in numbers.
It was one of the "great annual human migrations", he said. "Given the world we live in today, the current or persistent threats that continue to act upon travellers and expatriates alike, with Chinese New Year facilitating one of the great annual human migrations, it will amplify a number of issues."
New Zealanders and Australians were considered to be more susceptible with a "she'll be right, mate" attitude, Mr van de Klundert said.
Gilpin Corporate Travel director Keith Sumner said the main issue with Chinese New Year was availability of seats, and it was not isolated to China-bound flights. "Even if you are going to London but hubbing through Human hair extensions an Asian port like Singapore or Hong Kong, you are going to be hit with the same issues."
People heading to China needed to think about visas because the New Year celebrations meant consulates were closed for days. Businesses find the annual holiday hard to plan for because it changes dates each year and affects travel for weeks on either side of the actual date, which is February 14 this year.
Of the carriers, Singapore Airlines seemed to suffer the most disruption through its popularity with Chinese travellers, Mr Sumner said.
Air New Zealand spokeswoman Andrea Dale said its Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong routes bore the brunt of the increased demand.
Chinese New Year was the only notable peak travel period outside of the traditional Christmas and school holiday seasons, she said.
"Our scheduling teams ensure they closely match capacity to
embroidered patches demand during any peak travel periods, by monitoring demand on all our routes and make seasonal adjustments accordingly."
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