Upsurge in customised travel demand for Chinese outbound market

Chinese demand for customised travel surged 300 per cent in 2017, with European destinations most favoured among those eschewing traditional package deals, according to a joint research by ForwardKeys and the China Outbound Tourism Research Institute (COTRI).

Summer bookings are ahead 13.5 per cent, and there are currently over 120,000 new orders a month, representing a market share of almost 15 per cent, according to the study.

Data from ForwardKeys, which predicts future travel patterns by analysing 17 million booking transactions a day, further shows that China bookings for Europe are ahead 10.5 per cent this summer.

Europe – and particularly the UK – are the destinations most favoured by the new breed of Chinese travellers opting for customised holidays.

This group of travellers tend to be younger than average, “money-rich and time-poor”, ForwardKeys observes. They are prepared to pay more than average for the chance, for instance, to stay in a glass igloo in Finland or propose to their partner in front of the Eiffel Tower.

And according to Chinese OTA Ctrip, travellers customising their holidays typically spend around US$400 per person per day, a number set to grow further.

Until recently, mass-market package tour groups from China drove inbound volumes for destinations, but their spending was limited to famous landmarks during high seasons. Ctrip says the trend is to make customised travel an “affordable luxury”, available to more Chinese.

Wolfgang Georg Arlt, COTRI founder, said: “Europe is a perfect example of destinations that have great potential to fulfil the demand for customised travel from China, owing to its rich history and broad cultural diversity.”

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