China replaced France as Canada’s second largest source of overseas visitors in August 2014 with a 4.6% increase to a record 43,000 trips according to Statistics Canada.
Overseas residents made 457,000 trips to Canada in August, up 2.9% from July and the highest level since record keeping began in 1972. Among the major overseas tourism markets, Brazil contributed the most to Canada’s inbound traveler growth (up 3,100 trips from a month earlier), followed by the United Kingdom (+2,400) and China (+1,900).
China outbound tourists on average spent RMB 20,000 (US$3,252) during travel per person and shopping is an important part of their spend in oversea trips (57.8%). Canada is not the only country benefiting from China’s booming outbound tourism; short-term trips from China to Australia have grown from 234,000 in 2003-2004 period to 769,000 in 2013-2014, making a record number of visits to Australia.
China Tourism Academy estimates total revenue generated from China’s travel industry is going to reach RMB 3.3 trillion (USD 530 billion) this year with 3.76 billion person trips. It is estimated that during China National Day’s golden week starting on Oct 1, tourism market is expected to see 480 million person-trips in 2014 with a YoY increase of 13% and total revenue will reach RMB270 billion ($43.96 billion) with a YoY increase of 20% according to China Tourism Academy’s latest research.
Read more: Chinese Travel Willingness Report in 2014
