In the latest submission into the collection of reports is one from special analysis by the World Travel Monitor®, conducted by IPK International and commissioned by ITB Berlin, and another reported on by the Xinhua News Agency, China’s official press agency. Highlights from the two follow:
From the World Travel Monitor report:
—Holidays are the reason for over 80 per cent of foreign trips by the Chinese. ,
—Holiday trips only (without visiting friends or relatives) have a significantly higher share among the Chinese (76 per cent) compared to the global average (57 per cent).
—For some years, the most popular type of holiday has been round trips, although city trips are now also gaining ground.
—Compared to 2007 the average length of stay abroad has halved and in 2015 was about five nights. Despite this, sales rose to almost 77 billion euros during the same period.
—More than 80 per cent of Chinese chose to stay in hotels on their travels abroad. Four-and-five-star were the preferred categories, accounting for 62 per cent of accommodation on all trips.
—Chinese differ widely from the global average which, in respect to luxury hotels, stands at only 40 per cent.
—Although travel agency and catalog bookings, currently at 74 per cent, have declined among Chinese outbound travelers since 2015, as a category they still account for double the global market average.
—As a result, China is the leading source market for travel agency and catalogue bookings.
From the Xinhua News Agency:
—In 2015, Chinese tourists spent around $74 million a day on holidays in the USA.
—Fashion retailers, hotels and luxury stores are the top three locations where Chinese tourists spend their money.
—Fashion retailers make up almost one-third of their spending.
—Many tourists consider spending abroad a way to offset the expenditure of travel, because prices in the US are lower than that in the domestic market.
—Zhao Ping, researcher of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, says that the spending enthusiasm of Chinese tourists comes with increasing national income. (Business news site nbd.com.cn also confirms Zhao’s statement.)
—Training programs and summer camps are emerging as new ways for Chinese tourist to experience a holiday in the US.
—Tourism contributes to 59 percent of the total volume of service products the U.S. exports to China.
