SHANGHAI, 5 March 2018: China’s outbound travel market raked up 130 million trips in 2017, a 7% increase on 122 million trips recorded in 2017.
Thailand and Japan continue to be the two hottest outbound destinations.
But with more flight connections, better exchange rates and fewer visa restrictions, destinations such as Morocco, Turkey and Tunisia are seeing a huge growth in visitors from China.
The figures are highlighted in a Ctrip 2017 China Outbound Tourism Travel Report compiled with the China Tourism Academy (CTA), a specialised institute under China National Tourism Administration.
Recognised as the biggest travel agency in Asia, Ctrip estimated China’s outbound travel represented USD 115.29 billion in travel spend, a year-on-year increase of 5%.
The figure knocks on the head the popular assertion that Chinese are low-spend travellers.
The Ctrip study notes that Chinese travellers are becoming increasingly focused on their well-being and the purpose for making outbound trips has changed from sightseeing and shopping to enjoying high-quality services.
According to Ctrip statistics, Ctrip’s tailor-made travel and local guide platform has served millions of tourists in 2017. Such personalised trips designed by Ctrip’s travel planners are becoming a popular option for Chinese travellers.
Chinese travellers demonstrate a greater demand for assistance throughout their trip and are more focused on safety. Destinations that fail to deliver safety and quality public services are in trouble and quickly slip off the radar as preferred destinations to visit.
Ctrip’s “Global SOS” service provides 24/7 emergency responses and support saw a total of 2191 SOS cases from which 82% were for outbound travel.
In terms of outbound travellers from Beijing, Shanghai, Suzhou and Wenzhou spend the most. However, travellers from lesser well-known cities are seeing huge growth in outbound trips.
Chengdu surprisingly overtook Guangzhou and Shenzhen and ranked third in the number of outbound tourists with other cities such as Changsha (up 200% increase) and Xi’an (up 300% in tourist numbers) have also seen a rise in outbound tourists.
