SINGAPORE, 29 October 2018: Hotelbeds Group reported strong growth in wholesale sales in the Chinese market during its 2017-2018 fiscal year that ended 30 September.
In an industry update released last week in Singapore the group said room nights sold from China enjoyed a double digit growth rate, year-on-year.
As a source market China remains the group’s largest supplier in Asia Pacific for the third year running and the fourth biggest source market for the group globally in the wholesale channel space, up from 5th place, last year and from 22nd place in 2011. 
The group’s key wholesale channels for sales are Hotelbeds, Tourico Holidays, and GTA. These bedbank brands supply B2B buyers such as airlines points redemption schemes, and MICE operators, as well as online travel agents and tour operators.
The top 10 international destinations booked via the group’s platform in the China source market, this year, were all in Asia with each destination registering double digit growth.
The list was topped by Hong Kong, followed by Bangkok, Phuket, Singapore, Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur, Seoul, Bali, Osaka, and Beijing.
Regarding non-Asian destinations booked by China’s outbound travel providers, Paris was top, with strong growth year-on-year, followed by London, Prague, Milan, Istanbul, Barcelona, Rome, Madrid, Frankfurt and Amsterdam.
Hotelbeds Group wholesale sales & sourcing director, Sam Turner said: “Once again during the last financial year we have achieved outstanding sales growth in China. Of course, this is in part a reflection of the fact that Chinese travellers have now become the world’s number one travel market, spending one in five of all dollars spent on outbound tourism globally.
“But this success is also a reflection of our hard work and persistence, having been in the market for well over 10 years and dedicated ourselves to creating a product tailored to the needs of the local market – not least on the sourcing side, where we look for Chinese-friendly hotel accommodation and negotiate exclusive deals for Chinese B2B buyers.”
Hotelbeds Group APAC regional director for wholesale sales, Hui-Wan Chua said: “In this new year, which we started 1 October, we are confident we will experience the same growth or more. The demand for travel continues to grow in China as many Chinese people take their first overseas trips.
“Since Tourico Holidays and GTA joined our group last year we now have over 170,000 hotels available – many of them sourced with Asian travellers in mind, and many of those contracted with exclusive rates and unique content.”
