The people of China still want to travel abroad. At least we think so. This is the short, two-sentence, simplified way of describing the overall message of the recently released Chinese Consumer Travel Sentiment Report from Dragon Trail International, a global research and marketing company that specializes in the study and analysis of the Chinese market, which happens to be the world’s largest source market for international travel, as well as—prior to the global pandemic brought on by the COVID-19 crisis—the third largest market for overseas tourism to the United States.
Full of easy-to follow graphic material, the Sentiment report focuses on both domestic and international travel. In this recap, INBOUND, focuses primarily on the international sector, except to point out that residents of China—with the shadow of the global pandemic seeming to lift—are apparently eager to just travel. Period. (The citations that follow are from the report.)
Chinese New Year 2021: What did it Signal? Prior to the celebration of the Year of the Ox—the Chinese New Year fell on February 12 and led off the seven-day New Year holiday—there was the usual expectation that the holiday would be a measure of the intention to travel among the Chinese. This was not the case this year, as would-be travelers were advised to stay home because of the possibility that there could be regional outbreaks of COVID-19. One can see what impact this had on Chinese New Year (CNY) in this graphic.
WWW.DRAGONTRAIL.COM © 2021
Outbound Travel Still Remains Highly Uncertain: Dragon Trail tells us that, following the Chinese New Year celebrations, the second quarter of the year provides Chinese consumers three holiday periods for traveling: the three-day Qingming Festival (April 3-5), 5-day Labor Day (May 1-5 May), and 3-day Dragon Boat Festival (June 12-14).
However, no matter how one parses the intent-to-travel data (by quarter or half-year), there is considerable uncertainty in the outlook for outbound travel when those surveyed for this study/report were asked: “When is the earliest you would consider traveling?”
WWW.DRAGONTRAIL.COM © 2021
“A Hint” of Optimism, Despite Safety Concerns: Dragon Trail explains to the reader of the report that Chinese consumers are very cautious … The largest proportion of survey respondents felt they needed to wait until it’s safe, followed by those who are willing to travel, but will do so “cautiously.”
Notes Dragon Trail: “Compared to our September 2020 sentiment survey, when over half said that they felt safety needs to come first, the latest survey showed that sentiment around absolutely not traveling decreased, while intentions to travel cautiously increased.”
WWW.DRAGONTRAIL.COM © 2021
Remembering 2019—It Could Happen Again: Encouraging to anyone who promotes or sells Visit USA product to Chinese travelers is what Dragon Trail says about Chinese travelers’ favorite global regions, noting that, “Despite the uncertainty for when to travel, regional preferences remained the same. Asia, Europe, and North American are still ranked as the top 3 regions, as in 2019, according to China Tourism Academy.” (CTA)*
WWW.DRAGONTRAIL.COM © 2021
Similar to pre-pandemic travel preferences, survey respondents listed trying local food and visiting landmarks as the top things to do on their next outbound trip. This shows that Chinese consumers would still consider more crowded areas like major landmarks and museums when traveling outbound, within the limits of risk levels and policies.
WWW.DRAGONTRAIL.COM © 2021
Safety Concerns Go Hand-In-Hand with What Motivates Outbound Travel: Friendliness to Travelers, Risk Levels, and Travel Policies: For Chinese travelers, destination risk levels, pandemic control policies and friendliness to Chinese travelers are top-of-mind concerns when selecting a destination
WWW.DRAGONTRAIL.COM © 2021
Do Chinese travelers perceive the U.S. as a safe destination? According to Dragon Trail International, destinations such as Australia, Thailand, and Canada have a relatively good record of pandemic control based on daily cases and vaccine roll outs. However, these are not perceived as relatively safe destinations, suggesting other factors are at play, such as friendliness to Chinese travelers and the social order in a destination. Although U.S. is perceived as relatively unsafe, preference to visit North America remains high.
WWW.DRAGONTRAIL.COM © 2021
(Above does not include those who rated “unsure” for each destination.)
A note on methodology: From February 22 to March 3, 2021, Dragon Trail Research conducted an 18-question survey through a Tencent survey panel, and received 1052 completed responses. Target respondents were selected from 4 tier-1 cities, 15 new tier-1 cities, and 30 tier-2 cities. Respondent age and gender were controlled with quota. Results from the survey were analyzed through statistical testing, such as between group t-test, factor analysis, and regression analysis.
A note on the report’s timing: At the time of this report, Dragon Trail pointed out, major long-haul destinations were still struggling with daily cases of COVID-19, despite the development of vaccines. The vaccine rollout also shows drastic difference by destinations. Both daily cases and vaccine rollouts have had some influence on risk evaluation and Chinese consumers’ willingness to travel outbound.
A note about getting your own copy of the Chinese Consumer Travel Sentiment Report by Dragon Trail International. Click here to access a copy of the report.
