With Europe becoming a new favorite tourist hub for Southeast Asian travelers, China is fast changing it's tourists policies.
Of late China has become a source for increasing number of outbound tourists. Southeast Asia remains the most preferred destination for Chinese tourists but Europe is also growing in popularity.
Wu Wenxue, deputy director of the China National Tourism Association declared the business patterns of the global tourism industry are undergoing changes on account of China’s outbound tourism, as published by China Hospitality News.
China Hospitality News quoted him as saying, “China has become the fastest growing tourist export country in Asia and China's rapid growing outbound tourism has increased attention from destinations across the world. The latest statistics show that China's outbound tourism created a new record in 2006 with a total of 34.52 million outbound tourists. In the first three months of this year, the country saw 9.76 million outbound tourists, which was an increase of 14.5% compared with the same period of last year (2006).”
Travel rate is on accelerated growth. Every time there are golden weeks between May 1st and 7th and October 1st and 7th, the number of people for travel abroad increases. At present travel abroad has assumed importance in the Chinese tourism industry. Also, holiday tours are gaining popularity a new method of travel with improving quality of people’s travel.
Asian countries are the most preferred tourist destinations. The earliest destinations for Chinese tourists were Southeast Asian countries. Recent years have witnessed an increasing number of people opting for South Korea and Kazakstan as holiday destinations. Europe has also become a highly sought after destination. The elaborate cultures and civilizations of European countries have been luring many Chinese tourists. The number of visits to Europe made by Chinese citizens last year was 1.9 million. Great Britain as a destination has also grown in popularity by 20% compared to the previous year.
According to a research analyst at RNCOS, “The World Tourism Organization has forecasted 100 million outbound travelers for China to become the fourth largest source of outbound travel globally by 2020. The growing number of outbound tourists is a sign of a rapidly growing Chinese economy as well as people’s desire to explore the world. The rising number of outbound tourists goes a long way in boosting bilateral tourism exchanges as well as mutual friendship and understanding.”
Related Market Research Reports:
China Tourism Industry Analysis (2007-2011)
Indian Tourism Industry Forecast (2007-2011)
Opportunities in Vietnam Tourism Industry (2007-2009)
