CBN丨China lifts bans on group tours of another 78 countries（Investor Island）

Hi everyone. I’m Stephanie LI.

大家好，我是主持人李莹亮。

Coming up on today’s program.

重点提要

China resumes group tours to 78 destinations starting immediately Thursday;
BYD celebrated the production of its 5 millionth NEV on Wednesday, making it the first automaker in the world to hit this record.

Here’s what you need to know about China in the past 24 hours

中国经济要闻

China lifted a ban on group travel to more than 70 locations, including top travel destinations such as Japan, South Korea Australia, US and the UK, in a major relaxation of travel restrictions that’s set to boost the global tourism market.

The resumption of group tours to over dozens of locations in Asia-Pacific, Europe, Africa and North America, will start immediately on Thursday, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. The list now grows to 138 countries. The easing applies to all travel agencies and online platforms across the country, the ministry added.

Immediately following the announcement, searches for overseas destinations on multiple online travel agencies surged almost instantly. Mafengwo, a popular online travel community, saw its searches for outbound destinations jumped 150 percent on average, with Japan being the most popular to receive 3.5 times more views.

Instant searches for outbound travel soared more than 20-fold on Trip.com, according to the online travel platform, which added that pages of its overseas trips have over 10 times more customers pouring in and making inquiries.

Visa inquiries also surged 3-fold on Tongcheng, another major OTA platform, with Turkey, Australia and Japan being the most popular destinations.

In the first half of 2023, outbound tourism destinations received 40.37 million arrivals from the Chinese mainland, with 94 percent of the tourists concentrated in touring in Asia, according to data released by the China Tourism Academy on July 30.

Regions including the Hong Kong and Macao SARs and the island of Taiwan were among the top destinations for Chinese mainland tourists. Thailand, Japan, Singapore and South Korea were also popular.

The rebound in outbound tourism is contributing to the stable recovery of the international aviation sector as well. International passenger traffic in June bounced back to 41.6 percent of the same period in 2019, data from the Civil Aviation Administration of China showed.

出境团队游国家名单进一步扩大。

8月10日，文旅部发布通知，即日起恢复全国旅行社及在线旅游企业经营中国公民赴有关国家和地区（第三批）出境团队旅游和“机票酒店”业务。

根据文旅部的通知，第三批出境团队游目的地国家共78个，其中包括土耳其、日本、韩国、印度、德国、英国、美国、澳大利亚、以色列、捷克、奥地利、墨西哥等热门旅游目的地国家。

截至目前，中国公民出境团队游目的地增至138个。

文旅部消息发布后，马蜂窝站内相关海外目的地热度平均涨幅超过150%，日本以高达350%的瞬时访问热度高居榜首。

携程数据显示，消息发布后，出境游产品瞬时搜索增长超过20倍，其中国庆出发时段最受关注，日本、澳新等国家跟团产品热度飙升。与此同时，携程出境产品页面之下的用户咨询已经陆续涌来，咨询量超出暑期平日10倍以上。

同程旅行数据也显示，消息发布后，平台签证咨询量较前日同一时段上涨近3倍，赴相关国家的出境游产品咨询量大幅攀升。在新开放出境游的国家中，土耳其、澳大利亚和日本最受用户关注，其中，土耳其旅游咨询量上涨超过10倍。

近期，受暑期出境游持续升温影响，出境旅客数量上涨更为明显，7月出境旅客达59.31万人次，相较6月同比涨幅高达38.75%。

在出境旅行强劲需求的推动下，航空公司也随之保持增长势头。

国家民航局数据显示，上半年国际航线旅客运输量恢复至2019年的23.0%，其中6月份国际客运量已经恢复至2019年同期的41.6%。

7月30日，中国旅游研究院发布《2023年上半年出境旅游大数据报告》，报告指出，上半年出境游目的地共计接待内地（大陆）游客4037万人次。短距离的出境游率先恢复，93.95%的游客集中在亚洲地区。

从出境旅游目的地分布来看，东亚、东南亚地区接待出境游客最多，占比分别为83.92%、8.59%。从热门目的地来看，中国香港、中国澳门、中国台湾是出境游主要目的地，接待出境游游客占比达79.89%。泰国、新加坡、马来西亚、越南等周边国家保持较高热度。

Greater Bay Area, Greater future

新使命，大未来

Hainan province is seeking underwriters to prepare for another offshore yuan bond sale in Hong Kong following a 5 billion yuan issuance last year. The tropical island’s finance department issued an open invitation Tuesday for bids from underwriters for the government’s Hong Kong bond issuance this year, which mainly serves international investors.
海南省再赴港发点心债：8月9日消息，海南省近日组建债券承销团，拟在香港发行地方债。此次海南财政厅对承销团成员名单进行了一定的增补，主要负责面向全球投资者承销海南省2023年在港发行的地方政府债券。这已不是海南省第一次发行离岸人民币债券（又称“点心债”），早在去年10月26日，海南省就成功发行共计50亿元的离岸人民币地方债。
DBS Group Holdings Ltd., Southeast Asia’s largest bank, will increase investment and hiring in China’s Greater Bay Area as it expects growth in the region to outpace the rest of the country, according to the lender’s head of North Asia. “There’s no reason not to be optimistic about the future and the long-term prospects of China,” Sebastian Paredes, chief executive officer of DBS Bank in Hong Kong, told media on Wednesday.
星展将增加在大湾区投资与招聘力度：8月9日星展集团北亚区主管、星展中国董事长庞华毅接受采访称，星展将增加在中国大湾区的投资和招聘力度，预计这一地区增长将快于中国其他地区，“没有理由不对中国的未来和长期前景感到乐观”。

Next on industry and company news

产业及公司新闻

The five millionth new energy vehicle (NEV) produced by China's leading NEV manufacturer BYD rolled off the production line on Wednesday. The car is a Denza N7, which marks a major development milestone in China's automobile industry, as BYD became the world’s first automaker to hit the record. Since it started producing cars, BYD has had to prove that Chinese automobile makers can do it, said BYD chairman Wang Chuanfu during the company's press conference held on the same day.
比亚迪迎高光时刻第500万辆新能源车下线：8月9日，在深圳比亚迪总部，一辆崭新的腾势N7缓缓驶出，标志着比亚迪正式迎来第500万辆新能源汽车下线，这也让比亚迪成为全球率先达成这一目标的新能源车企。比亚迪股份有限公司董事长兼总裁王传福当天在活动现场表示，新能源汽车为中国汽车品牌发展提供了全新的“加速度”。
Youdao on Wednesday released an electronic pen for students that carries a large language model developed by the Chinese edtech company under internet giant NetEase in order to keep up with the pack as an increasing number of educational hardware firms harness the power of artificial intelligence. X6 Pro, which is selling for 1,399 yuan, contains Youdao’s LLM Ziyue that was released last month. The pen comes with a screen and serves as a dictionary, offers knowledge quizzes and it can help with learning grammar and speaking.
有道大模型“子曰”落地词典笔：8月9日，2023有道学习硬件秋季新品发布会举行，网易有道发布了“子曰”教育大模型首次落地的硬件产品——有道词典笔X6 Pro，同时还发布了有道词典笔S6和有道听力宝Pro三款新品。作为“子曰”在硬件上的第一个落地成果，售价1399元的有道词典笔X6 Pro搭载了4个AI互动能力：有问必答、语法精讲、AI口语教练和全科学习，成为一支能互动式深度学习、有问必答的学习工具。
Tencent is tightening the management of WeChat mini-programs which allow users to access mobile applications without downloading them to file and comply with new regulations. From Sept. 1, fresh applets on the social media platform will need to complete a filing before launch, the operation center of official accounts said, citing a notice from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. Moreover, existing programs need to do the same by March 31, 2024.
9月1日起微信小程序上架需备案：8月9日晚间，据微信公众平台运营中心发布通知称，微信公众平台ICP代备案管理系统将提供新增备案、变更备案、注销备案等服务，协助开发者完成微信小程序备案。若微信小程序未上架，自2023年9月1日起，微信小程序须完成备案后才可上架。若微信小程序已上架，需于2024年3月31日前完成备案。
The number of McDonald's restaurants will reach over 10,000 in China's first-tier to fifth-tier cities by 2028, and the high-tiers cities will still have the ability to increase the number, said Phyllis Cheung, CEO of McDonald's China, on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Cheung said the ownership structure of McDonald's China is unchanged, the shareholders, including CITIC Capital, Carlyle Group and McDonald's are still optimistic about the Chinese market, adding that it is not introducing new investor or capital at present.
麦当劳中国冲刺万店目标：8月8日，麦当劳中国首席执行官张家茵表示，“到2028年，麦当劳中国在一线至五线城市将冲刺达到1万多家餐厅的体量，其中高线城市的增长空间依然非常大。同时，张家茵表示会保持麦当劳目前的*结构，无论是中信资本、凯雷集团还是麦当劳，对中国市场都非常看好，暂时不会考虑引进新的投资者和新的资本。
China's small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) continued their recovery momentum in July, with the SME development index gaining 0.2 points to 89.3, though still below the 100-mark which indicates dented vitality, data from the China Association of Small and Medium Enterprises showed Wednesday. Sub-indices for the real estate and social service sectors both went up 0.3 points last month, marking the most significant increases among all sectors tracked.
7月份中小企业发展指数继续回升：据中国中小企业协会8月9日消息，随着支持民营经济和民间投资各项政策措施密集出台，中小企业信心逐步回升，7月份中小企业发展指数为89.3，比上月上升0.2点，连续两个月回升。分行业指数6升2降，其中房地产业指数和社会服务业各录得同比上升0.3点，是当月最大升幅的两个行业指数。
China's first national-level construction guideline for the standards of the hydrogen energy industry chain was jointly released on Tuesday by several ministries and departments. The guideline clarifies the key tasks of domestic and international hydrogen energy standardization work in the next three years, and deploys two major actions - core standard development and international standardization promotion. As shown in the plan, China will put in place a relatively complete hydrogen energy industry development system by 2025. And by 2035, the proportion of hydrogen produced from renewable energy in terminal energy consumption will increase significantly.
首个氢能全产业链标准体系建设指南发布：8月8日，国家标准委与国家发展改革委、工业和信息化部、生态环境部、应急管理部、国家能源局等部门联合印发《氢能产业标准体系建设指南（2023版）》。《指南》明确了近三年国内国际氢能标准化工作重点任务，部署了核心标准研制行动和国际标准化提升行动等“两大行动”。依据《氢能产业发展中长期规划（2021-2035年）》，到2025年，我国将初步建立较为完整的氢能供应链和产业体系；到2035年，形成氢能产业体系，构建涵盖交通、储能、工业等领域的多元氢能应用生态。可再生能源制氢在终端能源消费中的比重明显提升。
Chinese mainland-listed pharmaceutical companies posted selling expenses, which include marketing costs, distribution costs and agent fees, one-and-a-half times more than their net profit, media reported Wednesday. Among the 464 drugmakers listed on the mainland bourses, 295 have logged higher expenditure on selling expenses than net profit. The 464 firms reported 340.3 billion yuan in selling expenses last year, and just 201.9 billion yuan in net profit on 2.4 trillion yuan in revenue, according to statistics from data provider Wind Information. This gives a median ratio of selling expenses to revenue of 19.1, far higher than the ratio of 3.3 for all mainland-listed firms.
A股上市药企销售费用畸高：Wind最新数据显示，A股医药板块共计464家上市公司，2022年合计实现营业收入、归母净利润分别达2.45万亿元、2019.51亿元。而这些药企2022年花费的销售费用合计达3403亿元，超过了归母净利润总和。进一步的数据统计显示，295家药企2022年的销售费用高于归母净利润，占比超过六成。464家上市药企2022年销售费率的中位数为19.17%，高于整个A股的此项数据的3.3%。

Earnings reports express

财报速递

China Unicom said its interim net profit rose 13.7 percent to 5.4 billion yuan from a year ago, a double-digit growth for the seventh consecutive year. The telecom giant declared an interim dividend of 20.3 fen, up by 23 percent year on year. Operating revenue during the period grew 8.8 percent to 191.8 billion yuan from a year earlier, with service revenue rising 6.3 percent to 171 billion yuan. Its industry internet revenue reached 43 billion yuan in the first half, accounting for more than a quarter of service revenue for the first time, it noted. Specifically, China Unicom's cloud unit saw a 36 percent jump in revenue to 25.5 billion yuan from the previous year. The number of mobile subscribers exceeded 328 million, with a net addition of 5.34 million in the first half, which was a new high during the same period in four years, the company said.
中国联通上半年净利保持双位数增长：中国联通8月9日发布的2023年半年报业绩稳中有进，营业收入、利润规模连续刷新上市以来纪录。上半年，中国联通营业收入达到1918.33亿元，同比增长8.8%，其中服务收入达到1710亿元，同比提升6.3%；实现归属于母公司净利润54.4亿元，同比增长13.7%，连续7年实现双位数提升。2023年上半年，联通云实现收入255亿元，同比提升36%，全年收入力争超过500亿元。半年报显示，移动出账用户超过3.28亿户，上半年净增用户达到534万户，净增用户规模创四年同期新高。此外，董事会决定派发每股中期股息0.203元，同比提升23%。从新的业绩增长点来看，上半年，公司产业互联网收入达到人民币430亿元，占主营业务收入比首次超过四分之一，成为推动公司收入增长和结构优化的重要引擎。

Switching gears to financial news

金融市场消息

Midea Group, China's leading home appliance manufacturer, announced yesterday that the company is conducting preliminary discussions regarding the overseas issuance of securities and listing in Hong Kong. Subject to meeting the relevant requirements of overseas regulatory authorities, the planned issuance size is expected to be no more than 10 percent of the total share capital of the company after completion of the issuance.
美的集团拟登陆港股：8月9日，美的集团公告，基于深化全球战略布局的需要，公司正在对境外发行证券(H股)并上市事项进行前期论证，美的集团或将在未来登陆港股。在符合境外监管机构相关要求的前提下，本次拟发行规模预计不超过发行完成后公司总股本的10%。
The yuan’s share on Russia’s forex market jumped to a record high in July. The Chinese currency was on one side of 44 percent of forex transactions on the Russian exchange-traded market last month, up from 39.8 percent in June, according to a recent report released by the Bank of Russia.
7月俄外汇市场人民币交易份额创新高：俄罗斯央行网站8月8日发布的最新报告显示，俄罗斯外汇市场结构持续变化，7月人民币在外汇交易中所占份额从6月的39.8%上升到44%，创下新高。根据莫斯科交易所数据，今年2月，人民币首次超过美元，成为该交易所月度交易量最大货币。

Wrapping up with a quick look at the stock market

股市收盘情况

Chinese stocks slightly rebounded on Thursday with the benchmark Shanghai Composite adding 0.3 percent, while the Shenzhen Component inched up 0.1 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index ended flat and the TECH index gained 0.1 percent.
A股港股小幅反弹：周四A股大盘全天震荡反弹，三大指数均小幅上涨。截至收盘，沪指涨0.31%，深成指涨0.1%，创业板指涨0.47%。两市成交量继续萎缩，成交额合计6941亿元。北向资金全天净卖出25.99亿元，连续4日净卖出。港股探底翻红，恒指收涨0.01%，恒生科指涨0.1%。

Biz Word of the Day

财经词汇划重点

Dim sum bondis a slang term for bonds denominated in Chinese renminbi and issued in Hong Kong. Dim sum bonds are attractive to foreign investors who desire exposure to renminbi-denominated assets, but are restricted by China's capital controls from investing in domestic Chinese debt.
“点心债”是指在香港发行的、以人民币计价的债券。和中国境内的债务类金融工具不同，点心债券的发行基本上无管制，无论从发行者本身还是债券定价。如果需要将资金注入境内使用，则需要得到中国境内相关的监管机构的允许。