Traveling is popular among Chinese people nowadays. Especially, during Chinese New Year in 2015, Chinese travelers showed their strong consumption ability. It was estimated that China tourism market would accept 250 million trips with an increase of 11% from the same period of last year, worth RMB140 billion(US$22.68 billion) according to the latest research of China Tourism Academy and Ctrip in 2015.
According to the latest data, China’s domestic tourism is growing steadily while outbound tourism is developing with rapid growth. The favored destinations for domestic travel were Beijing, Sanya, Xiamen, Chengdu, Lijiang during Chinese New Year in 2015. The popular countries for China outbound travelers were Thailand, South Korea, Japan and the US.
Nearly 80% of the respondent hope to travel during Chinese New Year holiday in 2015 as shown in Ctrip Spring Festival Travel Intention Report, much higher than the previous year.
In terms of domestic tourism market in China, Beijing remained top among all domestic travel destinations. Shanghai accepted 3.802 million travelers with an increase of 4.8%, worth RMB3.749 billion(US$607.42 million); Jiangsu province accepted 2.98 million travelers from 12 scenic attractions with an increase of 16% worth RMB96.22 million（US$15.58 million) during Chinese New Year in 2015. Besides, tier-2 and tier-3 cities are now developing rapidly in traveling industry. Chongqing, Nanjing and Xi’an were hot cities for travelers to visit.
In terms of outbound tourism market, driven by good exchange rate and flexible travel visa, Chinese travelers were willing to travel overseas during Chinese New Year in 2015. Besides, outbound travelers accounted for over 60% of all. 300,000 Chinese travelers went to Thailand while 120,000 travelers went to South Korea.
Japan
Japan issued 250,000 travel Visas in January 2015 to attract Chinese travelers, which created the record of most visa from Japanese government. According to Japan’s official data, in 2014, 2.04 million Chinese travelers went to Japan and they consumed about RMB29.5 billion(US$4.77 billion).
South Korea
Estimated by Tourism Academy of South Korea, there would be 120,000 Chinese travelers going to South Korea during Chinese New Year in 2015.
South Korea received record number of Chinese visitors in 2014, easily breaking 2013’s record of 4.3 million Chinese visitors. The full year could even match the growth in arrivals seen during November 2014, when Chinese visitor numbers surged +67% from a year earlier. Global Blue estimates that by 2018, more than 10 million Chinese will visit South Korea every year
China will encourage more second and third tier cities to open direct flights to South Korea. Meanwhile, China will drive more cities to accept the landing visa and 72 hours transit visa, and simplify arrival departure procedures. Both countries will gradually implement a visa-free policy.
Chinese Travelers’ Strong Consumption
It is important to remember that for the seventh consecutive year Chinese globe shoppers are still the biggest-spending nationality, spending on average 736 Euros per transaction.
China has a population of more than 1.3 billion, including about 75 million consumers active in the global luxury goods market. During Chinese New Year in 2015, Chinese travelers would continuously show their strong consumption capability.
Also read: China Inbound Tourism Industry Overview
