The Hong Kong Tourism Board has reported that the number of tourist arrivals in the SAR hit a record 16.86 million in the first half of 2010 — up 23.1% from the previous year.
The report adds that June, a total of 2.62 million tourists visited Hong Kong, up 43.5% year on year.
The tourism board also points out that the Chinese mainland has become a major source of tourists. In the first six months, 10.48 million mainland tourists visited Hong Kong — 26.9% more than in the same period of last …

The number of China’s outbound travelers is expected to reach 52 million this year, up 7 percent year-on-year, the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) forecast in a report issued on Friday.
From January to May this year, China’s outbound travel tourists totaled 26.8 million, up 19 percent over the same period last year, according to the report posted on the CNTA’s website.
The report attributed the outbound tourism boost to stable development of China’s economy and the appreciation of the yuan against the US dollar.
Further, the number of domestic tours throughout the …

Only a few weeks after finalizing its Approved Destination Status (ADS), Canada has already ranked the third most popular tourist destination among Chinese looking to travel abroad, according to a survey released Monday.
In a telephone poll of 1,080 people living in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, the “Research Report on China’s Outbound Tourism Market” found Australia the most desired destination of prospective Chinese travelers, followed by Singapore and Canada.
The report was conducted jointly by the Vancouver-based SUCCESS Foundation, EMR International and the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada,
Japan ranked fourth, just ahead …

Canada is one of the top tourist destinations for Chinese looking to travel abroad, according to a new study released today. The Research Report on China’s Outbound Tourism Market — jointly presented by S.U.C.C.E.S.S., EMR International and the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada — found Canada ranks third after Australia and Singapore as a favored destination for Chinese tourists.
At a presentation of the report to tourism industry professionals today, Yuen Pau Woo, President and CEO of the APF Canada noted that Beijing’s recent awarding of Approved Destination Status to Canada opens the …

The Visa and Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Asia Pacific Travel Intentions Survey 2010 has found mainland Chinese travelers plan to travel most out of all Greater China travelers.
The Survey, which was conducted in May 2010 and interviewed 1,571 people in the Greater China region, found that on average, mainland Chinese travelers are planning for 7.4 business and leisure trips in the next two years, compared with the 5.6 and 4.5 trips anticipated by Hong Kong and Taiwanese travelers.
The results also show that Greater China travelers are less affected by …

Internet users in China spend about 1 billion hours online each day, more than double the daily total in the United States—and that number will grow to well over 2 billion hours a day by 2015, according to a new report by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG). This report, titled China’s Digital Generations 2.0: Digital Media and Commerce Go Mainstream, offers a comprehensive study of online behavior in China based on quantitative data as well as interviews with nearly 2,000 people from 12 cities in 11 of China’s 22 provinces. …

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 …

China’s persistent growth, despite the economic crisis, will bring close to 100 million households into the middle and affluent class over the next decade. Consumer spending power will double in nearly a quarter of China’s cities.
In The Keys to the Kingdom: Unlocking China’s Consumer Power, BCG’s analysis of disposable household income in China indicates that its rapid increase across the country has magnified the complexity that companies encounter in serving the emerging middle and affluent class as it expands out from the largest coastal cities to the northern and western provinces. …

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 …

Social media remains the hot topic of the digital world and I often get asked about the various statistics involved. This in itself is fairly difficult, as this particular online sphere is constantly shifting, evolving and growing at an astronomical rate.
Bear in mind that these are relatively recent figures – in a few months time (or even less) a lot of it is likely to be obsolete –  but for now, I think they’re a great way of demonstrating the impact that social media is having in the digital …

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 …

The January 2010 “Statistical Survey Report on Internet Development in China” was recently published. The report itself is 90 pages long, but here’s what I think you might find most interesting…
Highlights

Now 384 million Chinese internet users.
Big jump in usage of social networking sites.
Huge increase in the number of internet users that access the internet via mobile devices.
Value of online shopping transactions doubles!

User Numbers
Another Year, Another 80-Something Million Internet Users
The number of Chinese internet users has now reached 384 million. Even though that’s 86 million more than there was last year …

China National Tourism Association released some 2009 travel industry statistics (zh).   The report, translated by ChinaHospitalityNews, states:
The report reveals that China achieved total revenues of about CNY1.26 trillion from tourism  in 2009, which was an increase of 9% over that of the year before. During the year, China’s domestic travel continued its rapid growth, its inbound travel market resumed gradually and outbound travel market developed steadily.
According to the report, in 2009 China received a total of 1.9 billion domestic tourists, which was an increase of 11% over that of 2008. The country’s …

Revenues accelerate at Baidu
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Google is not on top everywhere. In China, homegrown search giant Baidu snaps up more than one-half of the market by catering to local needs.
According to Analysys International, search revenues in China reached RMB1.81 billion ($265 million) in Q2 2009 alone—a 33% increase over the previous quarter and a 47% increase over the same period the prior year. Baidu saw more than twice the share of those dollars as Google.
Popularity in the world’s largest country has made Baidu the third-biggest search property in the world, …

Latest figures released by the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) show that the numbers of international visitors to the Asia Pacific region* improved by a marginal 0.5 percent during the month of August 2009 compared to August 2008. However, figures recorded for the first eight months of 2009 in the same region show that international visitor arrivals are down, year-on-year, by some five percent.
Northeast Asia recorded a year-on-year increase of four percent in international visitor arrivals for August 2009 with growth in China (PRC) (+3 percent), Hong Kong SAR (+6 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Figures released today by the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) show that the numbers of international visitors to the Asia Pacific region* fell by an estimated six percent in July 2009 compared to July 2008, an improvement over the months of May and June which recorded year-on-year reductions of 10 percent and eight percent respectively.
More importantly, international arrivals to South Asia showed a year-on-year increase of two percent in arrivals for July 2009, a result partly boosted by increased travel demand to Sri Lanka (+28 percent) and Nepal (air only, …