Number of Chinese tourists taking flight

China is expected to be the primary driver of increased worldwide air travel in the years to come, and Canada is eager to tap into the opportunities this important tourist market presents.The Asia-Pacific region overtook North America as the single-largest market for air travel in 2009. But no other country has played a larger a role in the region's growth than China.

Of the 800 million additional air travellers expected to take to the skies by 2014, 360 million, or 45%, will come from the Asia-Pacific region. Roughly 214 million of them will come from China alone, making it the single largest contributor to overall passenger traffic growth globally, according to figures released by the International Air Transport Association Monday.

"The focus of the industry continues to shift eastward," said Giovanni Bisginani, IATA chief executive, in Singapore. "By 2014, one billion people will travel by air in Asia Pacific."While the United States is expected to remain the largest individual country for air travel in 2014, the emergence of China has not going unnoticed in Canada.

The Canadian Tourism Commission launched its first major consumer-focused advertising campaign in China this week. The campaign, which carries the "Say Hello to Canada" tagline, aims to draw well-heeled individuals to Canada by marketing places like Whistler, Banff, Niagara Falls, Ottawa and other destinations to Chinese tourists.

The campaign will run in newspapers, magazines, billboards and through various social media platforms, said Greg Klassen, CTC senior vice-president of marketing."The Chinese are becoming voracious travellers," Mr. Klassen said. "The speed at which they are travelling is significant, if not unprecedented."

But while other countries like the United States, Australia and New Zealand have been able to capitalize on the upswing in tourism from China in recent years, it wasn't until June 2010 that Canada finally received approved destination status from China.

It's not surprising that Canada still sits at about seventh or eighth on the list of top tourist destinations for the Chinese. But the Vancouver 2010 Olympics played a significant role in raising awareness of Canada in the minds of consumers, with China showing the largest increase in overall awareness to the Canada brand after the games, a CTC report released last week said. "Our goal would be to be in the top five [tourist destinations]," Mr. Klassen said.

But even without the same level of awareness, Canada's approved destination status has already helped increase the number of travellers from China to Canada to roughly 200,000 in 2010, up 20%, Mr. Klassen said. He said he expects the market to grow by another 20% in 2011, and to continue to grow at a double-digit pace for the next few years.

It is estimated by 2020, China will become the largest market for tourism in the world with an anticipated 100 million outbound passengers annually.The CTC estimates this will add about $300-million in new tourist dollars in Canada by 2015, Mr. Klassen said.

Certainly this has been a boon for Air Canada, whose Pacific routes not only saw a 22% increase in capacity in 2010, but a 31% increase in passenger revenue year over year.The challenge, however, will be to ensure that packaged tours to Canada are kept at high prices, Mr. Klassen said.

"Canadian destinations are eager to have Chinese travellers. It has been billed as the saviour, or at least a huge opportunity for Canada's tourism industry," he said. "We always urge Canada's suppliers to keep up their yields and not undercut each other because it can degenerate into very low margins."

Source = financialpost