China International Travel Service, one of the few tourism enterprises among the “Top 500 Enterprises of China”, has established China International Travel Service Zhejiang Company. together with Zhejiang Paradise International Travel Service Company with a total investment of CNY10 million.
It is reported that Hangzhou currently has 461 travel agencies but only a few of those are of large scale and famous brands.
Xu Liang, the general manager and director of CITS Zhejiang and the former general manager of Zhejiang Paradise International Travel Service, told media that with the unique resources of …

Chinese online travel service provider Ctrip.com has announced that it will compensate consumers for any differences in online booking prices.
Ctrip.com said that, from March 10, 2010, all the room rates it provides on its website for hotels in China will be the lowest available. If any consumers find room rates lower than those on its website, it will pay them compensation to the value of three times the price difference.
This is the first time ever that a travel service provider in China has promised to compensate consumers for price …

ChinaTravelTrends.com, new interactive platform for China outbound tourism, launched in Berlin, with backing of PATA

Chinese affluent citizens increasingly like to travel abroad, but distrust official information.
With more than 50 million outbound travellers expected to leave China in 2010, the Chinese outbound market is attracting more and more attention of destinations around the world.
As part of the ITB Convention 2010, a workshop organised by the German-based COTRI China Outbound Tourism Research Institute and the Chinese company Dragon Trail, presented Social Media Marketing as the most …

Ctrip.com International Ltd. (Nasdaq: CTRP | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) assures customers that they will get the lowest price for online booking of hotel rooms and promises compensation if they are cheated.
The promise is made in partnership with hotel chains at home and abroad, including …

China’s online travel booking users in 2009 reached 30.24 million, increasing 77.9 percent from the previous year, according to a report released recently by China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC).
Ctrip, the one-stop China travel service, also says its number of members has reached 30 million.
Online travel booking in 2009 saw rapid development and has become a highlight of the tourism market. According to statistics released by the CNNIC, online travel booking users in 2009 increased 77.9 percent to reach 13.24 million. The growth rate is second only to online payment …

According to the US Department of Commerce, a Chinese tourist spends an average of $6,000 USD in the United States. This enormous spending power of the Chinese tourist is the main reason behind the New York City Tourism Bureau to vigorously promote the visit of thousands of Chinese visitors; the largest group in NYC tourism history. According to the Tourism Bureau’s latest news, among the main activities of Chinese tourist, 95% are shopping, followed by dining. Business owners are all smiles upon the arrival of Chinese tourists.

Bloomingdales in NYC, a …

South Florida is starting to court the next big thing in tourism: visitors from China.
Broward and Palm Beach counties are working with state tourism agency Visit Florida to lure Chinese tourists, providing materials for travel trade shows in China and welcoming delegations of Chinese travel agents and press to help spread the word about what South Florida offers.
On a recent Friday, a group of eight Chinese travel writers visited Fort Lauderdale, taking a water taxi tour, shopping on Las Olas Boulevard, as well as sampling shrimp and steak at Shula’s …

Chinese tourists are seen at the Tokyo Disneyland on Feb 19. [Photo:China Daily]

The Chinese Lunar New Year is not only a gala for domestic retail sales, but a feast for overseas retailers, too.
Some 1,200 Chinese tourists celebrated the lunar New Year in New York between Feb 14 and 20, spending an estimated $6 million in the United States, said Zheng Wenqing, a public relations manager for New York Tourism Board’s China office.
Japanese retailers also reaped gains from Chinese tourists during the week. A local home appliance retailer, Bic Camera, reported …

Chinese online travel website company eLong Inc. reported its unaudited financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2009.
Total revenues at eLong.com for the fourth quarter increased 18% year-on-year to CNY106.9 million and net revenues increased 18% year-on-year to CNY100.9 million. Operating income in the fourth quarter was CNY2.4 million compared to operating loss of CNY10.3 million in the prior year period. Net income in the fourth quarter was CNY1.0 million compared to net loss of CNY8.2 million in the prior year period.
Total revenues in 2009 …

China’s position in the tourism development in the world has been rising, the fourth largest entry receiving country in the world and the largest exit tourist source country in Asia. From 2000 to 2008, the total revenues of Chinese tourism increased by 12.5% annually (by CNY). In 2008, China totally received tourists about 1.89 billion man-time, rising by 5.9% of last year, realizing the tourism revenues of 1.16 trillion CNY ?166 billion USD?, increased by 5.8% of last year.
The slowdown of economy growth negatively affected the tourism, leading to the …

Preference Of Wealthy Mainland Tourists For Upscale Malls, Luxury Outlets Hits Department Stores Hard
Chinese luxury shoppers typically prefer upscale shopping malls to all-in-one department stores, as Shanghai’s Plaza 66 attests (Image via Flickr)

Last week, Jing Daily translated an article about Chinese tourists outspending Japanese 2-to-1 at a number of famous South Korean department stores. According to that article, visitors from mainland China now account for more sales than ever at some of Seoul’s most fashionable and expensive stores, and it’s not unknown for one-day tourists to drop hundreds of thousands …

The online video business in China is seeing explosive growth, as Chinese consumers learn how to capture and watch video and as Chinese advertisers seek to boost their branding. Several several emerging Chinese companies are scrambling to exploit it — so far, few U.S. companies are there.
Baidu, the leading Chinese search engine company, said today it has raised $50 million from private equity firm Providence Equity Partners to pump into Baidu’s new online video unit. The unit, a separate corporate entity called Qiyi, is licensing premium video content and running ads …

China says at minimum 70 million people will visit the Shanghai World Expo this year; local government authorities are dangling whopping numbers like 100 million.
That’s an average of more than 380,400 people descending on the site on each of the expo’s 184 days, starting May 1. Around 20 million tickets have been sold, organizers say, and to underscore their confidence in demand they are sticking to plans for gradually increasing the cost of daily admission, now “benchmarked” at 160 yuan, or $23.50.
The government even suggests some visitors might prefer to …

In what could be seen as a indication of what’s to come at the London Olympics in 2012, Chinese tourists have been spending big at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
Visitors from China earned a silver medal in consuming by spending the second-largest amount of any country on the first day of the Winter Games, Visa Canada said Tuesday. Chinese tourists and Olympians used their Visa credit, debit and prepaid cards to the tune of $395,000 US across the province on Feb. 12, the company said
“Chinese tourists the world over are …

China’s online tourism market is booming as an increasingly wealthy middle class travels for pleasure and the use of credit cards and the Internet soars, analysts say.
As millions of people pack their bags for Lunar New Year holidays, the busiest travel period of the year, many will have booked their trips home online, according to Chinese Internet research and consulting firm iResearch.
Revenue from online flight, hotel and package tour bookings will hit 4.75 billion yuan (695.8 million US dollars) in 2010, up 27 percent from last year, iResearch says, with …

www.chinatraveltrends.com, COTRI and Dragon Trail are inviting all visitors
to the ITB in Berlin to a China Outbound Tourism workshop during the ITB 2010 – March 11th at 4.30pm to 5.45pm in Hall 7.1.
As part of the ITB Convention Destination day the China Outbound Tourism Marketing Forum @
ITB Berlin 2010 will look at “Social Media Tourism Marketing – The Example of China”.
The Chinese Outbound market is one of the few source markets which continued to grow even during the global economic crisis. Social Media are increasingly important especially for the younger, …

Shanghai Expo 2010 will run for 6 months, from May to October; and is expected to attract upwards of 70 million visitors over those six months. The UK has a truly exciting pavilion, designed by Thomas Heatherwick, on the Expo site – able to accommodate up to 40,000 visitors a day (5-7 million over 6 months). In addition, there will be an extensive programme of business and public events, showcasing the UK’s sectoral strengths and business expertise, the arts, culture, science, innovation and our low carbon agenda. For the first …

Wine Production Tours Allow Students, Businesspeople Opportunity To Meet Wine Experts, Sample Beijing Favorites
Changyu, a popular winery for wine tourists, is fighting to be seen as China’s preeminent, and possibly first world-class, winery
One of the interesting developments that has followed increased consumption of and appreciation for grape wine in China has been the spread of “wine tourism” around the country. Over the past few years, more tour operators have added winery tours both for Chinese tourists going overseas and international tourists coming to China, which have proven quite popular — …

Local Market Knowledge Helped Baidu, but So Did Piracy, Nationalism and Marketing
HONG KONG (AdAge.com) — Google’s decision to pull out of China unless the authorities will allow uncensored search results — an unlikely outcome — probably does stem from moral outrage over the government’s heavy-handed tactics.
But it could be a face-saving way to exit a market where Google has made surprisingly little progress. Most research companies agree Google controls at most one-quarter of China’s search market. That’s hard to swallow, given Google’s dominant position in the U.S. and many other …

UAE Expects Wave Of Chinese Visitors In 2010, Following September Visa Changes
Dubai hopes more Chinese tourists will inject much-needed cash into its tourism industry in 2010
One of the interesting effects of the global economic slowdown has been the growth in outbound tourism among mainland Chinese. Although foreign travel still remains an elite activity despite the large numbers of Chinese tourists appearing in cities like New York, Paris and Tokyo, visa restrictions are easing year by year and rising incomes (as well as a growing middle class) mean that more mainlanders …