BEIJING -(Dow Jones)- Travel-review Website TripAdvisor said Friday it is buying Kuxun.cn, a Chinese flight and hotel search engine, as it taps into a burgeoning tourism market buoyed by China’s resilient economy.
TripAdvisor, owned by Expedia Inc. (EXPE), plans to invest more than US$50 million in China through late 2011, Chief Executive Stephen Kaufer told Dow Jones Newswires. The budget includes buying Kuxun, launching its own Chinese travel-review Web site, Daodao.com, in April, and hiring more staff.
“China’s economy is going to continue to grow,” he said. “Tourism will naturally follow–more domestic …

The Fiji government and tourism stakeholders said on Tuesday they expect tourism numbers to boom with increased airlines servicing Fiji and a direct flight from China to the Fiji resort city of Nadi.
It has already been confirmed that Australian airlines Jetstar, a low-cost Qantas subsidiary, and V Australia will start servicing Fiji within months with competition expected to heat up.
The direct flight from Hong Kong to Nadi starts on Dec. 3.
Fiji will get direct connectivity to the Europe market with direct Air Pacific flights from Hong Kong to Fiji’s resort …

HONG KONG – Figures released by the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) yesterday, show that visitor arrivals to Hong Kong reached 2,250,718 in September, 2.5 percent more than in the same month last year. Cumulatively, arrivals from January to September totalled 21,159,973, with the year-to-date shortfall further improved from –3.4 percent in August to –2.8 percent in September.
HKTB said the increase in arrivals in September was mainly driven by continued gain in Mainland China, as well as seasonal growth in South and Southeast Asia. For Mainland China, with improved travel …

China Is the World’s Fastest Growing Outbound Travel Market
by Normandy Madden – AdAge China
Published: October 28, 2009
ORLANDO, Fla. (AdAge.com) — Nearly 500,000 mainland Chinese traveled to America last year, said the U.S. Travel Association. Visitors from China tend to come frequently and spend an average of 23 nights in the U.S.
They also spend more than people from any other country, an average of $7,200 each on accommodation, air travel, dining, shopping and gambling.
The U.S. Travel Association invited tourism officials from 30 Chinese provinces and the China National Tourism Administration to …

Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle will lead a delegation to China to promote clean-energy partnerships and economic development.
The two-week trip, which begins Friday, also aims to tap into China’s growing outbound tourism market.
In June 2008, a memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and China began allowing for increased group leisure travel from China to the U.S., and permitted tour operators to market and advertise group tours to Hawaii.
The first nonstop scheduled airline service from China to Hawaii is expected to begin early next year on Hainan Airlines.
Kelvin Bloom, chairman of the …

Already Numbering Over 100 Million, The Chinese Middle Class Is Powering China’s Luxury Market
Luxury brands like Louis Vuitton often employ larger-than-life marketing techniques in the Chinese market, as their Shanghai location reflects
China’s luxury market has gained a lot of attention this year, mainly because it remains one of the few global markets where more luxury retailers are entering the market, rather than cutting back or leaving it altogether (as we’ve seen by more than one luxury retailer in Japan this year). Although a good deal of luxury spending in China …

PATA has introduced a new organisation structure designed to streamline the Association’s wide range of services to its global membership base.
The new Office of Strategy Management, headed by John Koldowski, embraces all functions performed within the PATA Strategic Intelligence Centre, such as market analysis and tourism forecasting, as well as a new ‘Business Services’ operation.
The Office of Marketing Services, headed by Sheila Leong, consolidates all activities previously undertaken by the Association’s Events and Membership departments as well as the new PATA website now under development. The new website, scheduled to …

Third Sino-U.S. Tourism Directors Summit Continues International Travel Partnership; Strengthens Diplomatic Ties
Chinese and U.S. Tourism Leaders Meet at Orlando Summit

Orlando, FL – October 2009 – U.S. and Chinese tourism officials met last week (October 23-24) for the third time in two years to explore opportunities for growing travel between the United States and China. Tourism officials from 30 Chinese provinces and 23 U.S. states were in attendance at the two-day summit, including Chairman of the China National Tourism Administration Shao Qiwei and U.S. Travel Association President and CEO Roger Dow.During the …

This graphic by Mozy.com does a great job in illustrating the size of the Internet in China.

Source: Mozy (October 27, 2009)

The Republic of Seychelles has identified mainland Chinese tourists as its most promising source of tourist arrivals.
It is targeting to attract 5,000 mainland Chinese visitors by 2010 or 2011 and 15,000 by 2015. In 2008, the country welcomed 16,000 visitor arrivals, out of which only 1,000 were from China.
Tourism forms an important component of Seychelles’ gross domestic product (GDP), contributing approximately 20%.
With the envisaged increased visitation from China, the authorities hope that tourism can contribute to 35% of GDP in the future.

Construction Of New Hotels, Expansion Of Existing Chains Shows That Shanghai Is Well On Its Way To Becoming Asia’s Top Financial And Business Hub
The Peninsula Shanghai is designed to emulate the city’s Jazz Age appeal (Graphic courtesy Peninsula Hotels)
Over the past few years, in preparation for the 2010 World Expo, Shanghai has become one of the world’s top destinations for hoteliers looking to get a piece of the Chinese business and luxury traveler yuan. With upwards of 7 million visitors — mainly Chinese — expected at the expo, newly constructed hotels …

The company has moved to capitalise on the Flight Centre brand’s strong global recognition by:
- Rebranding its off-street FCm Executive Leisure businesses in Shanghai and Hong Kong; and
- Launching a new Flight Centre branded website in China to help direct and drive customer enquiry
- Implementing a new marketing and promotion strategy to drive customer enquiry through print and web marketing
Flight Centre Hong Kong and Shanghai will be closely aligned to FLT’s larger FCm Travel Solutions corporate travel businesses in Mainland China and Hong Kong.
Like the former FCm Executive Leisure businesses …

For decades, rail travel in China meant an arduous overnighter in a crowded East German–designed train, riding along a rickety old track. Now China is undergoing a rail revolution. Over the next three years, the government will pour some $300 billion into its railways, expanding its network by 20,000 kilometers, including 13,000 kilometers of track designed for high-speed trains capable of traveling up to 350kph. Result: China, a nation long defined by the vastness of its geography, is getting, much, much smaller.
Already, the journey from Beijing to Taiyuan, the capital of …

Luxury Market In China A Mixed Bag For Foreign Brands, Who Fight To Get Customers To Buy Inside China Rather Than Traveling Overseas
Although Beijing and Shanghai are China’s “crown jewels,” second-tier cities like Chongqing may ultimately prove the engines for the creation of a more comprehensive Chinese consumer culture
We’ve discussed recent reports on the rebound of the Chinese luxury market (which didn’t drop that much to begin with, despite global economic woes), and this year’s findings in McKinsey & Company’s Insights China report that China is rocketing towards the top of the …

Luxury goods sales might rise next year for the first time since 2007, helped by demand in China and growth in online shopping, consulting firm Bain & Company said yesterday.
Sales in the e153 billion (R1.68 trillion) industry are forecast to rise 1 percent next year, excluding currency movements, according to a study by Bain partner Claudia D’Arpizio.
Revenue this year was likely to fall 8 percent, less than the 10 percent drop predicted.
“We see less discounting and markdowns and more signs of rising consumer confidence,” the analyst said. “Growth will be …

Approach marketing in China from the inside-out, or risk being left outside the conversation.
With government shutdowns of Western internet services dominating the headlines, companies are reminded of the challenges of doing business in China. But it isn’t only the Chinese government causing problems for Western companies. Based on recent market research of China’s expansive online population, fundamental differences in the profile of Chinese netizens contribute to the difficulties of marketing in that country. Understanding these differences is the first step to a successful strategy.
Next is to reframe the standard tenets …

China has become the richest source of new, loyal travelers for Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE: HOT), according to an analysis on the enrollment and travel trends of Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) members. The results underscore previous reports by the World Tourism Organization that forecast China as the world’s largest market for inbound and domestic tourism by 2015.
According to the analysis, Chinese enrollment in SPG jumped 50 percent in 2009 compared to last year, and SPG members now make up roughly half the occupancy of Starwood hotels in …

The travel demand of Chinese people has kept ballooning with the increasing standard of living, and the traditional travel agencies can no longer satisfy the consumers’ demand. As a result, online travel booking has gradually become the choice of a majority of consumers due to its favorable prices and personalized travel routes.
In 2008, China’s online travel booking market scale totaled RMB2.98B, while the data from Analysys International shows that the figure grew by 8.5% in Q2′09 over the previous quarter and by 13% over the same period last year.

As is …

When Priceline announced its second quarter results in August this year, the online travel company categorically stated that its international gross bookings benefited from geographic expansion, growth in hotel supply, and growth in new markets. Its international business gained momentum throughout the quarter, with 32% gross bookings growth on a local currency basis.
The US-based company believes that the fundamental strength of the business has allowed Priceline to continue to invest in the future while delivering impressive current earnings growth.
And going forward, Priceline’s CEO and president, Jeffery H. Boyd, is clear …

TravelDaily (www.traveldaily.cn), China’s leading online publisher and event organizer with emphasis on trends in the distribution, marketing and technology of the travel and tourism industries partners with PhoCusWright to host the 2009 China Travel Distribution Summit in Shenzhen from December 2-3, 2009.
“Despite a global downturn that has been impacting the world economy since late 2008, China remains the hotspot of world’s travel market by achieving 12% growth rate for the first half of 2009, measured by number of domestic travelers. China’s domestic air traffic also achieved over 20% of growth …