Our team, KLLAB_CN (Feng Li*, Taozhu Ruan, Yiming Zhong, Yuchen Xue, Kexin Shi), has been awarded the Grand Prize for the Point Forecasting Competition in the Tourism Forecasting Competition II.

Background

Following China’s announcement of the new optimizing COVID-19 rules in late 2022, outbound tourism bookings have been booming. China was the biggest outbound travel market before the pandemic, and the recovery of this market has profound impacts on many destinations. DOMs and the travel industry around the world are keen to learn about the prediction of this market’s recovery. The academic community of tourism forecasting is obliged to offer intellectual support to the global tourism industry.

Based on the successful experience of organising the first round of tourism forecasting competition amid COVID-19, Curated Collection of Tourism Demand Forecasting of Annals of Tourism Research, together with the Tourism and Hospitality section of the International Institute of Forecasters jointly call for the second round of tourism forecasting competition amid COVID-19, with a particular focus on the recovery of the Chinese outbound market.

Competition updates

With an enthusiastic response, more than 40 international teams showed their interest in participating in this competition. Our team is invited to submit a full paper to Annals of Tourism Research for consideration for inclusion in the Curated Collection of Tourism Forecasting. Our team is also invited to participate in the Tourism Forecasting Competition Invited Track of the 45th International Symposium on Forecasting, which will take place from the 29^th of June to the 2^nd of July 2025, in Beijing, China. There will also be an award ceremony for this competition during the conference.