A boom time for Chinese travel

There is nothing Gu Rong enjoys more than travel. The Beijing resident has been to more than 30 countries, and her favourites include Australia for the big cities and Switzerland for the architecture.

"I've had unique travel experiences," says the 40-year-old representative for a consortium of green organisations based in Hong Kong. "I think most Chinese people love to travel in Europe, because it is far away and it has lots of luxury brands."

Guo Caiyun, 47, is another Beijing resident with wanderlust. She has visited South America several times for work and holiday."I like the culture. I like the life there. I especially like the music there," says the trade organisation employee, adding that she is keen to visit historic attractions in countries such as Egypt.

While the diverse travel experiences of Ms Gu and Ms Guo are not typical of China's 1.3 billion people, most of whom have yet to travel outside their vast home country, they are by no means unique.

According to the China Tourism Academy, Chinese people made 70 million trips abroad last year, up more than one fifth on 2010's total of 57.4 million. This year, with double-digit growth expected to continue, the figure is forecast to reach 78 million.

As the Chinese government gives more countries "approved destination status", allowing travel agencies to advertise them and send tour groups to those destinations, numbers will climb further. Unsurprisingly, tourism hot spots are scrambling to catch as many of these travellers as possible.

"The challenge is that there are so many [national tourism offices] in China, they all want to grab the Chinese travellers. Our competition is huge," says Mavis Zheng, the China general manager for the Canadian Tourism Commission.

The reputation Chinese overseas travellers have for spending makes them particularly welcome.Trips abroad are a good time for buying brand-name goods such as bags and clothes, as these are often more expensive in China. Also, there is a cachet linked to purchases made overseas.

Last month, when many went abroad for the Chinese Lunar New Year, Chinese accounted for 62 per cent of luxury purchases in Europe and one third of such spending in the US. Total overseas spending that month by Chinese travellers was US$7.2 billion (Dh26.44bn), up from $5.6bn last year.According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), spending overseas by Chinese tourists jumped 38 per cent last year.

With this much at stake, it is no wonder countries are drafting in their most senior officials to help.During his recent visit to China, Stephen Harper, the Canadian prime minister, opened a Canadian tourism office in Beijing.

Many other nations are expanding their efforts. Since the beginning of this month, billboards advertising Britain have appeared on the subway lines in Beijing and Shanghai, while Dubai and Abu Dhabi have tourism offices in China that offer services such as training seminars for travel agents.

"We are confident that China will continue to be a market where we see significant growth," says Bonnie Hua, a press and public relations manager for VisitBritain based in Shanghai.

"There will soon be a day where we welcome as many Chinese tourists as we do visitors from other existing markets."Foreign attractions such as the Louvre in Paris produce leaflets in Chinese, while few large tourism agencies can do without a Chinese-language website.

Mandarin-speaking staff are becoming more common. The government tourism agency in Hungary, for example, has created a group of 80 or so hotels, travel agencies, restaurants and other businesses that have set out to cater to Chinese visitors.

Hungary attracted close to 75,000 Chinese tourists last year, up 44 per cent on 2010 and impressive considering that eight years ago the annual number was just a few hundred, according to Robert Vertes, the China representative for Hungarian Tourism.

Source - thenational.ae