China travel boom reaches US
WASHINGTON, 11 June 2013: Visits from China and Latin America registered substantial growth to the United States last year, while European markets suffered declines, according to a government report released Monday.
A record 67 million international visits were clocked into the world’s biggest economy in 2012, up by 4.3 million from the previous year, the US Commerce Department said.
It also was a record-breaking year for international travel and tourism spending, which surged 10% to US$168.1 billion.
Chinese bid for Club Med stake
May 28, 2013 by AFP
Filed under Europe, Hospitality, News
PARIS, 28 May 2013: The two main shareholders in upmarket holiday group Club Mediterranee, including a Chinese firm, said on Monday that they would make a bid for the company, driving Club Med shares up over 20%.
The two bidding companies, AXA Private Equity and Chinese conglomerate Fosun, said that their bid would be friendly and involved top Club Med managers.
The bid would be pitched at 17.0 euros per share, representing a premium of 28.4% on the average share price over a month, the two bidders said in a statement.
Chinese official lambasts tourist manners
May 20, 2013 by AFP
Filed under News, North Asia
BEIJING, 20 May 2013: The dire manners and “uncivilised behaviour” of some Chinese tourists abroad are harming the country’s image, said a top official who lamented their poor “quality and breeding”, according to state-run media.
Wang Yang, one of China’s four vice premiers, singled out for condemnation “talking loudly in public places, jay-walking, spitting and willfully carving characters on items in scenic zones”.
Such “uncivilised behaviours” were “often criticised by the media and have damaged the image of Chinese people and caused vicious impact”, he said, according to the website of the People’s Daily, the ruling Communist Party’s mouthpiece.
MTF zooms on China market
May 13, 2013 by Don Ross
Filed under Events, Mekong Region, MICE, News
BANGKOK, 13 May 2013: This year’s Mekong Tourism Forum convenes in Guilin, China, 19 June, adopting a theme of “The Rise of the Chinese Traveller, optimising impacts for the Greater Mekong Sub-region.”
Commenting on progress, Mekong Tourism Office executive director, Mason Florence, told TTR Weekly, Monday: “Everything is on track to address the tremendous China outbound market, how to attract/retain, while protecting (assets)…”
For the first time in the forum’s decade-long history the number of participants will be limited to 150 delegates, by invite only, to keep the single-day forum manageable.
New test for bird flu
May 13, 2013 by PRnewswire
Filed under Americas, News
WASHINGTON, 13 May 2013: Breaking research appearing online Saturday in Clinical Chemistry, the journal of the American Association for Clinical Chemistry ( AACC), demonstrates that a recently developed diagnostic test can detect the new strain of influenza (H7N9) currently causing an outbreak in China.
Since the end of March, 31 people have died from H7N9 infection, and the number of confirmed cases has climbed to 129.
Evidence suggests that most H7N9 infections have arisen from poultry-to-human transmission, and that passage of the virus between humans is limited. However, researchers have also found mutations in the virus that are known to help avian viruses adapt to mammalian hosts. If these mutations lead to sustained human-to-human transmission, a serious pandemic could occur.
Greek PM visits China
ATHENS, 13 May 2013: Greece’s Prime Minister, Antonis Samaras, hopes his four-day trip to China this week will help his country’s ailing economy by attracting investment and promoting the export of Greek products.
Upon the invitation of the head of the Chinese government Li Keqiang, Samaras will visit Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou from Wednesday to Sunday, and will meet several Chinese officials.
He will thus become the second EU leader, after French President Francois Hollande, to visit the Asian country since the new Chinese leadership came to power.
China drives agency business
May 9, 2013 by Wanwisa Ngamsangchaikit
Filed under News, Thailand
BANGKOK, 9 May 2013: Association of Thai Travel Agents’ member companies handled 1,624,513 international tourists at Suvarnabhumi Airport in the first four months of this year representing substantial improvement of 46.40% over 1,109,623 visits during the same period last year.
ATTA released its data, Wednesday, based on fees member agencies pay to the airport to provide a meet-and-greet service for international clients. It is considered an accurate barometer for the tourism industry but is limited to travel through Bangkok.
China continued as the top market for travel agency business with well over 500,000 visits up 78% on the same period last year. Experts predict it will continue to boom benefiting all Southeast Asia destinations, the preferred travel region for the majority of China’s first-time travellers.
Virus threat may stall tourism
April 26, 2013 by Wanwisa Ngamsangchaikit
Filed under News, Thailand
BANGKOK, 26 April 2013: Thailand’s Association of Thai Travel Agents urges members to monitor the H7N9 avian influenza outbreak in China to determine the impact on inbound tourism.
ATTA president, Sisdivachr Cheewarattanaporn, said tour operators should closely monitor the situation.
“I worry that if it is not contained we could have a SARS situation on our hands at a time when business from China is booming.”
China orders more Airbus aircraft
BEIJING, 26 April 2013: China welcomed French President Francois Hollande, Thursday, with a deal potentially worth billions for 60 Airbus planes as he became the first Western leader to pay court to Beijing’s new supremo.
Hollande came to China accompanied by a planeload of business executives, earning a brief respite from economic woes at home and the aftermath of a corruption scandal that has forced his budget minister to resign.
He was the first Western leader to be received in Beijing by China’s new president, Xi Jinping, who accorded military honours to his fellow head of state on an inspection of People’s Liberation Army personnel in Tiananmen Square.
Arrivals to Angkor gain in Q1
April 25, 2013 by Wanwisa Ngamsangchaikit
Filed under Cambodia, News
SIEM REAP, 25 April 2013: Siem Reap provincial tourism department reports visitors to Angkor Wat, January to March, reached 694,700, an 8% increase over the same period last year.
For the first quarter of this year, South Korea, China and Vietnam were the top three strongest markets according to the report released Wednesday.
South Korea led the field increasing 8% to 142,040 followed by China with a growth of 77% to 87,104, but Vietnam declined 39% to 45,760 visits.
