If you have any plans to travel to China, you should get a move on, because it’s getting more expensive every day to be a tourist in the Middle Kingdom. Chinese media last week reported that some of the country’s most famous tourist sites are prepping major ticket-price hikes as part of a three-year government-led price review. Tickets for Taierzhuang, the site of a 1938 military victory over Japan, are set to jump by 60% to $25. As recently as 2008, admission to the battle site was completely free. The changes have rankled Chinese tourists, who are becoming increasingly vocal about what they call a rip-off culture in the industry.

Domestic tourism has taken off in China in recent years, as disposable income levels have risen dramatically. According to the China Tourism Academy, Chinese tourists took a collective 2.6 billion trips in 2011. Along the way, most domestic travelers have grown accustomed to some level of price gouging. Being dragged for hours through the gift shop at the local jade factory, or being forced to admire endless strings of pearls, is wearingly common for tour groups. But many now worry that the gouging is getting worse — and they are taking to the Internet to fight back.

One disgruntled traveler, Luo Di, created a media storm earlier this year when he posted a story on his Sina Weibo microblog about a friend’s holiday experience on the island of Hainan. At an ordinary seaside restaurant, the friend had enjoyed a simple three-course seafood meal. The bill came to more than $600 — a small fortune in this relatively poor region of the country. Luo’s tale quickly went viral as many other Weibo users chimed in with their own experience of being fleeced while on holiday in China. One Weibo user, using the name Heirenguanghui, posted a receipt showing a seven-course seafood meal that cost $1,500.

According to domestic tour agents, the cost of domestic travel is indeed rising rapidly. “This Chinese New Year, tour-package prices went up by 15% to 20%,” said Xu Xin, manager of the domestic-tourism department at the Beijing headquarters of China Travel Service, one of China’s leading tourist agencies. “This is very unusual for this time of year — normally prices stay stable from year to year, but this year we’ve seen the cost of transportation, hotels and tickets for places of interest rising significantly across the country.”

More than 14 million tourists each year flock to the frigid northern city of Harbin for the annual Ice Festival, one of China’s most popular winter tourist attractions. Visitors endure Siberian weather conditions to see its renowned ice-and-snow sculptures, contributing an estimated $1.4 billion to the local economy, according to provincial authorities. But a trip to the festival does not come cheap. Tickets for Ice World, a 60-hectare (150 acre) ice-sculpture park and the festival’s most famous destination, cost almost $50 each — nearly twice as much as the entrance fee to Rome’s Colosseum and almost two-thirds of an entrance ticket to Disney World in Florida. On a recent family visit to Harbin, this reporter spent close to $200 per person on local transport and tickets to the Ice Festival’s top three spots. Add in accommodation and food, and the total outlay for the three-person trip came to almost $800. By comparison, the average monthly income in Harbin is less than $300, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

While many of China’s emerging tourist class are relatively new to the game, experienced travelers who have spent some time overseas are often disappointed by the travel options at home. “The domestic tourist market is just too unstandardized, especially when you compare it to the international market,” says Fan Di, a well-traveled young Beijing woman who spends one or two months every year on the road. “You can’t trust anybody but yourself when you travel here, you can only depend on yourself and your own judgment or else you get ripped off.” Fan spends most of her holiday time outside China, having recently returned from a trip to Burma. “I just don’t go to the famous attractions in China; it’s never worth it,” she says.

Despite tourist grumbles growing louder, change may be slow in coming. When Luo’s story first emerged, Hainan officials at first bristled at the accusation. An official with the local government quoted by local media strenuously denied that any tourists had ever been ripped off on the island and promised to take legal action against any “malicious attackers” who made claims to the contrary. Within 24 hours, however, local authorities were forced into an embarrassing reversal. Deluged with complaints of overcharging from thousands of disgruntled tourists who reported similar experiences to that of Luo’s friend, the authorities issued a fine of nearly $80,000 to the restaurant involved and announced a “zero-tolerance policy” toward local businesses that ripped off tourists. Said Lu Zhiyuan, director of the Hainan Tourism Development Committee: “We will not let one rotten apple ruin the whole barrel.”

Chinese Travelers Are Tired of Getting Gouged is a post from: China Travel Trends

Chinese mainland travel agencies have stopped sending tour groups to the Philippines due to concerns for tourists’ safety.

Some Web users called on tourists to boycott the island country, which has famous island destinations such as Boracay and Cebu.

China CYTS Tours Holding Co, a major travel service provider on the mainland, said that chartered direct flights between Beijing and Boracay Island every five days will be suspended starting on Sunday.

On Thursday, a Philippine Airlines flight scheduled to leave Beijing at 1:50 am for Manila was canceled, according to a notice on the Beijing Capital International Airport’s website, which did not give a reason.

Two other flights to the Philippines on Thursday departed as planned. In various statements, CYTS and other major travel agencies – in cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou – said they have stopped sending tour groups to the Philippines.

Those who have already paid for the Philippines-bound tours will get a full refund including the visa fee, they said.

Lin Wenzhen, manager of outbound travel in the Asia-Pacific region at the Fujian branch of China Travel Service, said travel agencies had taken spontaneous action out to consideration for tourists’ safety.

“Although the national tourism authority has not yet banned Philippine-bound tourism, we have adopted this proactive approach to prevent high risks to travel safety in the country,” she said.

The Chinese embassy in the Philippines issued a safety alert on Wednesday, saying “massive anti-China demonstrations” are about to be held within days, and Chinese nationals are advised to be alert and avoid going out.

Dao Shuming, head of the Shanghai tourism bureau, said on Thursday that travel agencies on the Philippines told mainland counterparts that Chinese tourists should avoid going there for now because it could be unsafe for them in the Philippines.

Travel agencies will incur some losses because of the suspended business, industry insiders said.

Ge Lei, marketing manager with CYTS, said that the company will take some losses from refunds on visa fees to more than 100 tourists who booked tours to Boracay.

But industry insiders said the Philippines will lose an important source of tourists. China surpassed Japan in January to become the third-largest tourist source for the Philippines.

Travel agencies now recommend tourists go to substitute destinations in Thailand, Malaysia or Singapore, which are considered much safer, Lin, of China Travel Service, said.

Lin said recent incidents will further dampen the Philippines’ popularity with Chinese tourists, which was already declining since the bloody hostage-taking incident on a hijacked bus in Manila in 2010 in which six tourists from Hong Kong were killed.

On Thursday, many netizens voiced support for proposals that called on tourists to not visit the Philippines.

“Though I recommended Boracay before, I have to say now, please, give up the idea of going there,” said a netizen called “Xingzou40guo”, who claims to be a traveler and writer with more than 240,000 followers at Sina Weibo, China’s most popular micro blog service.

“It is not just about safety. More important, we must show our attitude! If you really like beaches, go to friendly places such as Fiji Islands, Vanuatu, and Maldives,” he said.

How many Chinese tourists are now in the Philippines is not known. Ge with CYTS said the company keeps contact with 16 Chinese tourists in Boracay, and so far their itineraries have not been interrupted by the Huangyan Island tensions.

Shanghai tourism bureau chief Dao Shuming said there are 497 Shanghai tourists in the Philippines now.

“I hope they will come back as soon as possible,” he said. Tan Zongyang in Xiamen, Fujian province, and Shi Yingying in Shanghai contributed to this story.

Safety concerns bring China-Philippines tourism to grinding halt is a post from: China Travel Trends

BEIJING,  May 8, 2012 – A new travel industry book will make it easier for businesses to understand China’s consumers, particularly their travel preferences and the latest social, economic and digital trends in a highly complex, fast-moving market.

The “Essential China Travel Trends Guide – 2012 Year of the Dragon Edition,” includes articles on Outbound Tourism, Luxury Travel, Tour Operation, Chinese Consumers, Customer Satisfaction, Internet and Social Media, Mobile Marketing, Hotel Regulation, Hotel Profitability, MICE, Green Tourism, Aviation, Human Resources, and Emerging Cities.

The publication was published by ChinaTravelTrends.com, and produced by Dragon Trail Interactive (www.dragontrail.com) in collaboration with COTRI (www.china-outbound.com) and the Pacific Asia Travel Association (www.pata.org). Its authors include experts from the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA), the China Tourism Academy, Dragon Trail, the China Outbound Tourism Research Institute, PATA China, Horwath HTL, Jones Lang LaSalle, UBM Aviation, GreenEarth.travel, Vari Arts Travel Group, TUI China, World Travel Monitor, Hurun Report, and Portfolio.

“The guide is designed to de-mystify some of the trends and issues international travel companies face when entering the Chinese market and looking to attract Chinese consumers,”, said Jens Thraenhart, publisher of China Travel Trends, co-founder of Dragon Trail, and Chair of PATA China and the PATA Technology Innovation Council.

The 2012 Dragon Edition follows on from the acclaimed first edition of the “Essential China Travel Trends Guide – 2010 Year of the Tiger Edition”. The 2012 edition is endorsed by leading travel authorities such as CNTA, UNWTO, WTTC, PATA, IATA, IH-RA, DMAI, HSMAI, ATME, HFTP, IFITT, ETC, AH&LA, MTCO, ATTA, and ICTP.

Michael Gehrisch, CEO of the Destination Marketing Association International (DMAI) writes in the book: “This guide gives an in depth look at the shift of China travel trends, and how DMOs and travel companies can use these trends while developing and executing strategies for the various segments and different demographics.”

In his preface of the booklet, Mr Zhu Shanzhong, Vice Chairman of the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA), writes: “Tourism is playing a major role in driving the national economy while enhancing friendship between China and the world. The booklet helps to promote an in-depth understanding of China’s latest tourism trends.”

According to Taleb Rifai, Secretary General of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), “China is expected to become the leading international tourism destination and the fourth largest outbound market in the next decade. China has become a leading example for many countries around the world in upgrading its tourism.”

Tony Tyler, CEO of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) points out that by 2015, one out of every seven journeys by air will be related to China.

The “Essential China Travel Trends – Dragon Edition” e-book is available for exclusive download at www.ChinaTravelTrendsBook.com, and the print book will be available for sale via the PATA e-Store from June 1 at a price of €25, as well as at tourism events worldwide. Part of the profit supports the “Save the Panda” initiative. Readers are encouraged to donate via the book website.

The new book was formally launched at the 24th Joint Meeting of the UNWTO Commission for Asia Pacific in Chiang Mai, Thailand on May 4, which was attended by senior tourism officials and ministers from 19 Asian countries, who received a print pre-view copy.

Martin Craigs, CEO of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) said: “China is fast moving, ever changing, and very complex. Its online digital landscape is dominated by domestic social media brands that attract over 500 million Internet users. The new publication offers invaluable insights. It will help build companies’ businesses that wish to benefit from high-spending Chinese tourists.”

For more information about the “Essential China Travel Trends Guide – 2012 Dragon Edition”, and for free e-book download, please visit www.ChinaTravelTrendsBook.com.

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About CHINA TRAVEL TRENDS

ChinaTravelTrends.com is an English language, one-stop resource website and community focused on Outbound Tourism, Social Media and Digital Marketing in China. Chinatraveltrends.com aims at giving international travel and tourism organizations insights about the complexity of the China travel market and its online landscape. China Travel Trends has an online community of nearly 1,000 tourism industry professionals interested in the Chinese travel market, organizes educational seminars in partnership with events, travel companies, and tourist boards, and publishes the “Essential Guide to China Travel Trends”.

China Travel Trends is published in partnership with Dragon Trail and COTRI. For more information, please visit www.ChinaTravelTrends.com. Follow China Travel Trends on Twitter at @cnTravelTrends, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/ChinaTravelTrends, and LinkedIn

Essential China Travel Trends Guide 2012 Year of the Dragon Edition Launched is a post from: China Travel Trends

DUBAI – Dubai registered in 2012 a 27- percent increase in the number of hotel guests from China, the sheikhdom’s promotional arm Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) revealed Sunday.

Speaking at a media briefing on the occasion of the largest Middle Eastern tourism fair Arabian Travel Market (ATM), Saleh Al Geziry, director of DTCM’s overseas promotion and inward missions, told Xinhua that “Dubai hotels registered in 2012 a total of 193, 000 stays of Chinese nationals, representing a 27-percent increase compared to the previous year.”

The number of Chinese people staying in Dubai was higher in reality as 200,000 citizens from China stay at the homes of their family members or friends in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Mark Walsh, group exhibition director of the five-day travel fair ATM, which will kick off Monday, said that the number of Chinese travel agents visiting the congress rises every year. ” This year we have a total of 2,400 exhibitors, a 7-percent increase to 2011, and 83 new companies,” Walsh said, a total of 9. 3 million tourists visited Dubai last year.

Al Geziry said, “What we witness here is a tourism spring after sluggish years in the wake of the global crisis.”

“The Chinese market is important to Dubai. Since both sides, the UAE and China, liberated their bilateral visa policy in September 2009, the DTCM has regularly presented Dubai as a holiday destination in major Chinese cities, and the immense response speaks for itself,” said Al Geziry.

Most popular hotel destinations among Chinese travellers are the seven-star hotel Burj Al Arab, the 1537-room luxury resort Atlantis The Palm and the Ibn Battuta Gate Hotel, which is operated by the Swiss hospitality group M venpick.

“Chinese guests are meanwhile the third largest group in our hotels,” said Yasmine Hidalgo, public relations manager at the Ibn Battuta Gate Hotel, “They like the proximity to the Ibn Battuta shopping mall and of course our Chinese restaurant Shangai Chic. Our visitors from China like the sun, beach and lifestyle of Dubai, but at the same time they also like to feel at home.”

SOURCE: China Daily

Chinese travellers feed Dubai’s ‘Tourism Spring’ is a post from: China Travel Trends

Ctrip.com, China’s largest online travel service provider which has 41.6 percent of market share in terms of sales revenue in 2011, is stretching its arms to high-end travel market by cooperating with Life TM Group, one of China’s top luxury service providers.

As part of the deal, Ctrip will invest into the travel sector of TM Group to form a new company, hhtravel.com, with a focus on high-end travel package.

“The high-end travel market is undoubtedly a gold mine in China with the enlarging group of rich people,” said Fan Min, CEO of Ctrip.

In March, Ctrip launched its around-the-world-in-80-days travel package which cost 1.01 million yuan. Fifteen vacancies were filled up within 17 seconds after the launch on the web.

In addition to the new firm, Ctrip announced a new world travel package of 50 days, which will set off on Jan 23, 2013.

Fan said TM Group’s broad client sources, combined with Ctrip’s experience in travel market, can generate the most competitive players in China’s high-end travel market.

Guo Ming, CEO of the Trip TM, said that the cooperation is aimed at establish an industrialized and standardized market for high-end travel.

“It will focus on providing a travel platform for people who have a high income and a willingness to experience more elite services during their travel,” he said.

According to reports, China has over 2.7 million people with personal assets of more than six million yuan. Sixty percent of them are willing to choose luxury travel.

Source:

China Daily (April 29, 2012)

Ctrip and Trip TM Partnership – Top online travel agency eyes high-end market is a post from: China Travel Trends

China is most likely to turn into the world No. 1 international tourism source market within the year 2012. Destinations all over the world are increasing their efforts to welcome Chinese visitors. Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Georg Arlt, director of COTRI China Outbound Tourism Research Institute, has recently given keynote speeches at China outbound tourism workshops in Wuppertal/Germany and Colombo/Sri Lanka and will give further advice during the COTTM fair in Beijing next week.

Wuppertal is a German city with three unique attractions: The birthplace of Friedrich Engels (partner and sponsor of Karl Marx), Pina Bausch Dance Theatre (the cradle of modern dance, recently highlighted by an Oscar-nominated documentary by the German filmmaker Wim Wenders), and the suspension railway, which is the only “floating tram” of its kind in the world. The possibilities to attract different niche markets in China with these offers were discussed during a workshop organized by Wuppertal Marketing in the historic rooms of the Engels Museum on March 28th. “Niche markets may be small, but in China even small niches can translate into thousands of highly-motivated and easy-to-contact visitors”, Prof. Arlt concluded during the meeting.

Only two days later, on April 30th, the UNWTO World Tourism Organisation and the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau welcomed a hall full of tourism experts to a UNWTO Seminar on Chinese outbound tourism. In 2011, Sri Lanka received 16,000 Chinese visitors, a doubling of the number of 2009, but still a small figure compared to other destinations in the region. Given the proximity to China, the long-standing and intensive relations between the two countries and the many cultural and natural attractions of Ceylon, an increased focus on this source market will certainly bring more Chinese travellers to the island. Mr. Xu Jing, Regional Director UNWTO Asia-Pacific, and Prof. Arlt, Director COTRI, both agreed that offering quality, prestige and diversity will bring better results for the Sri Lankan tourism industry than competing on price only with other beach destinations like the Maldives islands.

Exhibitors and visitors of the COTTM China Outbound Travel and Tourism Market, which will take place in Beijing on April 18-20, will be able to profit further from workshops and panel discussions that COTRI is staging on behalf of the fair organizers Tarsus Co. During the fair, COTRI experts will be available also on the COTRI stand 2116 to give support to destinations and companies from all over the world, which are eager to cash in on the Chinese tourism wave.

SOURCE: eTurboNews.com

China is most likely to turn into the world No. 1 international tourism source market within the year 2012 is a post from: China Travel Trends

According to the “2011 China Personal Fortune Report,” the country is home to more than 500,000 people with disposable assets of $1.6 million. Last year, the Hurun Report said China currently has 4,000 yuan billionaires.

A new independent website, HHtravel, has just launched with the hopes of building unprecedented ultra-luxury vacations for China’s wealthy. This market, the company believes, is under served.

Already renowned for its signature around-the-world trip, HHtravel’s website offers 50 other exclusive vacation packages. They are divided into nine themes, including “island getaways,” “soft adventures,” and “top-notch train journeys.”

HHtravel’s trips last up to a month and cost approximately $16,000. Don’t let sticker shock get the best of you. All excursions include business-class transportation, dining at Michelin-star restaurants,  award-winning hotels (and resorts, and castles…and royal palaces),  and two seats per traveler on coaches.

Though no service like HHtravel’s website has existed before, not everyone is convinced it will be an instant hit. Wang Xinjun, founder of Ivy Alliance Consulting, says wealthy Chinese normally don’t travel through tourist agencies, simply because “most agencies can’t arrange what these people want, for example, to climb Kilimanjaro in Africa.” He also says they tend to prefer unique, solitary experiences,  like trips to Bhutan to experience happiness. Tourist groups are often the very thing they are trying to avoid.

Despite the large number of tycoons in China, some believe the super-luxury travel market is limited in its growth potential as it is much smaller compared with the regular travel market.  But it can certainly be lucrative.

Will China’s Ultra-Rich Respond to Exclusive Online Travel Agency? is a post from: China Travel Trends

Hotel rates in key European cities are rising in part due to an increase in Chinese visitors, Starwood Property Trust CEO Barry Sternlicht recently told Wall Street analysts.

His comments – made during the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call on Feb. 29 – are only the latest sign that China’s emerging middle class is going to have a profound impact on the travel industry and, specifically, hotels as they take to the road.

In response to an analyst’s question about risks related to the European real estate market, Sternlicht said that Europe’s hotel outlook remains fairly healthy.

“Hotels are doing OK. The economy’s not cratered yet. It probably id going to do what it’s doing. It’s going to muddle along,” he said on the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call. “It’s going to muddle along.”

But “where you’re seeing a big pickup in (revenue per available room) is in cities where the Chinese have an influence and are traveling, because they fill the lower end of hotels and then the whole toothpaste tube fills – from the bottom up.”

He noted that the company’s portfolio includes 25 Le Meridien hotels throughout Europe.

Sternlicht said that they see Chinese travelers booking Holiday Inns, which then prompts the usual Holiday Inn customers to move “up to the Courtyard” hotels and then the Courtyard customers to “move into the full-service Marriotts.”

“It’s kind of an interesting phenomenon,” he continued. “They are changing the dynamics of this market.”

Sternlicht told analysts that he’s seeing the same trend in New York City, and that it’s a long-term trend that will continue. The Marriott Marquis – New York City’s biggest hotel – is a good example of a hotel that has already figured this out and has rolled out the red carpet for Chinese travelers.

In an interview Thursday in Washington, D.C., with Hotel Check-In, an executive with a large European tour wholesaler echoed Sternlicht’s comments.

Kier Matthews, a vice president of Europe Express, which sells European tours to U.S. travel agents, said:

“What we see in the cities where the Chinese are now traveling a lot in Europe is that (hotel) occupancy is going up – and so are rates. It is forcing everyone to manage their business differently.”

At this point, he’s seen the highest number of Chinese travelers in London, Barcelona and Rome and they are frequently booking five-star hotel rooms.

SOURCE: USA Today

Chinese travelers are driving hotel rates higher is a post from: China Travel Trends

Mainland Chinese took 70 million international trips in 2011, mostly around Spring Festival, summer vacations and China’s National Day holiday in October.

In 2012 Chinese tourists are expected to take nearly 80 million international trips, spending US$80 billion in the process, according to the China Tourism Academy.

That’s a lot of travel — 8 percent of the total one billion international trips expected to be taken this year, in fact.

Many hospitality companies are preparing by offering Chinese-oriented tours and amenities. But what can the rest of the world expect?

Given that the Chinese received a bit of a bashing in the comments to our “Who are the world’s worst travelers?” article, it’s time to set the record straight about this oft-maligned nation of jetsetters.

Also on CNNGo: The rise of Chinese-centric hotel brands

Most Chinese need to save for months in order to snap a shot in front of the Eiffel Tower.

Most Chinese are not rich

There may soon be one million Chinese millionaires, but heading overseas is no longer just for China’s wealthy.

“A lot of the people who were on [my] trip are not rich,” says Evan Osnos, 35, China correspondent for The New Yorker magazine and author of the perceptive and witty travel essay, “The Grand Tour.”

The Connecticut-native whizzed through five European countries on a 10-day, US$2,200 tour last year with Chinese companions who included school teachers, low-level government workers and an accountant.

Wang Xinjun (王新军), founder of Ivy Alliance Consulting, rattles off some interesting statistics.

In the last year, 23 percent of Europe-bound Chinese travelers earned less than RMB 5,000 (US$793) per month; and 36 percent earn RMB 5,000-10,000 (US$793-US$1,587).

Students — not the most “well-heeled” bunch in any country — accounted for 11 percent of those travelers.

More on CNNGo: Top 10 dream destinations for Chinese tourists

“Chinese people have a tradition: they’ll appear rich on the road, but lead a very humble life at home,” notes Wang.

“Take a look at the travelers who spend tens of thousands of reminbi on shopping. Their accommodation and food are usually not that great.”

What to expect in the future: Economy hotels will be packed with Chinese tourists in traditional Chinese travel seasons such as Spring Festival, summer vacations and early October. If you’re also traveling at those times, consider booking early.

“A third cheaper than it costs in Beijing? I’ll take three.”

Shopping isn’t as important as you think

Chinese tourists have a reputation for being shopaholics. And in some ways, that’s true.

Chinese travelers accounted for 62 percent of the total amount spent on luxury goods in Europe in 2011. Last January they forked over a total of US$7.2 billion on luxury shopping worldwide.

However, surveys show that other pursuits are more important. According to Ivy Alliance, only 19 percent of Chinese travelers list “shopping” as a main purpose of travel.

Instead, “natural scenery” and “island getaway” are the two most important items.

The most popular nature destinations for Chinese tourists are Phuket, the Maldives, Bali and Hawaii.

“Chinese travel agencies do promote shopping-purposed tours for tourists and purchasing agents, known as ‘sweeping goods tour’ (扫货团),” says Jia Jianqiang (贾建强) of Kuxun, a Chinese travel site affiliated with TripAdvisor. “But these are not regular routes and are only available a few times a year.”

What to expect in the future: Hong Kong, Paris and London will keep receiving undeterred Chinese shoppers, but many more Chinese travelers will explore classic natural settings.

“You will envy me!” Travelers love making friends jealous with pictures of themselves overseas.

Photography and Chinese food are vital

What annoys Chinese tourists? Restaurants that have no idea how to stir-fry — and dead camera batteries.

“Everywhere we went in Europe we ate Chinese food,” says Osnos, who became desperate for Western food toward the end of his 10-day trip in Europe.

That doesn’t mean the Chinese completely shut their mouths to local cuisine. All they need is some guidance.

Osnos recalls a fellow traveler asking him to order a French meal for the group while dining at a Chinese restaurant in Paris.

In addition to food, the other critical item for Chinese travelers is a camera. “One line sums up Chinese tourists the best: sleeping on the bus; photographing off the bus,” says Jia.

Avid Chinese travelers often have little interest in relaxation and lazy sightseeing. Their top task is to photograph or be photographed, in order to flaunt their experiences to friends back home, Jia says.

What to expect in the future: The savviest Western restaurants will be ready to hand over fancy Chinese menus with tips for ordering dishes. Tourist sites will hike prices on cameras and accessories.

More and more young Chinese with foreign language skills are leaving tour groups behind.

Group travel prevails, but independent travel is growing

Group travel used to be the only way abroad for Chinese tourists. It’s still the most popular way to go — language and cultural barriers and a complicated visa application process for Chinese encourage group travel.

Chinese tour groups normally aim to see the most famous places and cover the longest distance and as many countries as possible.

“That’s really a way of feeling you’ve done something worthwhile,” comments Osnos. “And I do think they enjoy it.”

Yet China is seeing a leap in independent tourism.

Around 42 percent of Chinese tourists now prefer independent travel to Europe, while 53 percent stick with conventional tour groups.

“I think group travel will still account for a high percentage of outbound travel because tourists from lower-tier cities are getting wealthier and want to see the world,” says Tan Heng Hong of market research firm Mintel.

“As for those who have been aboard, they will go with small groups of friends or individually. Solo travel will also grow.”

More on CNNGo: New must-do for Chinese tourists: French wine tour

Increasingly, like-minded travelers team up and approach a travel agency to craft a tailor-made route, such as a medical tour to Switzerland or a TV show tour to the United States.

What to expect in the future: Chinese tour groups will move faster with fewer group members. Foreign language-speaking Chinese will crowd the backpacking route through Europe, United States and Southeast Asia.

Rainbows are great but the local Chinese chefs are what really impresses Chinese tourists.

Guam: The new Maldives?

According to Mintel’s 2011 analysis, Hong Kong, Macau and South Korea are the most popular international destinations for Chinese travelers.

The United States ranks the highest in the Western hemisphere at fifth overall. Russia leads the pack in Europe, listed 10th overall.

Southeast Asian and South Asian countries dominate the rest of the list.

Nearby tropical islands remain high on Chinese tourists’ bucket lists.

Guam is the most likely new hot spot, predicts Wang Xinjun. “Chinese tourists love island getaways; you can tell from their passion for the Maldives,” says Wang.

“Guam is a very nice destination, as well as a shopping paradise. During the past Spring Festival, Chinese tourists chartered 10 planes to fly to Guam.”

What to expect in the future: Gaum’s ubiquitous sushi bars and Korean barbecued meat joints will be replaced by hot pot and dumpling restaurants. Hospitality workers will say “Nihao” to any sort-of Chinese-looking face.

SOURCE: CNNGo

Demystifying the Chinese traveler is a post from: China Travel Trends

Prada, Gucci…GNC? In addition to the ever-growing list of fashion and luxury brands Chinese shoppers scoop up at home and abroad, health and wellness products – particularly nutritional supplements – are becoming hot commodities as Chinese disposable incomes continue to grow. “People around me seem to be more concerned about their health than in the past,” says Wang Qi, a 32-year-old executive assistant from Beijing.

Over the past two decades, Chinese expenditures on health products grew annually at a rate between 15-30 percent, far higher than the 13 percent in developed countries over the same period. It is estimated that the sales of vitamins and dietary supplements as well as food and drug additives in China will reach $95.2 billion by 2015.

China’s growing nutrition market has attracted international supplement manufacturers, despite high thresholds to enter the market and laborious governmental approval procedures. The most recent survey conducted by the China Healthcare Association states that over the past 15 years about 644 types of nutritional supplements have been exported to China, among which 63 percent is from the US.

The Michigan-based Amway remains an industry leader. Euromonitor International proclaims the direct selling company and manufacturer of primarily health, beauty and home care products led overall dietary supplement sales in 2010 in China by holding a 16-percent market share. But as the competition heats up, it is uncertain whether that sort of lead can be maintained.

General Nutrition Centers, a Pennsylvania-based retailer and producer of health and nutritional product, is vying to catch the number one slot in China. David Zhang, CEO of GNC China, says, “More and more Chinese consumers, particularly in big cities, are looking for international leading brands that can provide trusted product quality and innovative product lines.”

The GNC products being sold in China now are manufactured in and imported from the US. We have adapted a multichannel strategy to list our products in premium supermarkets, high-class department stores, health and beauty stores as well as on e-commerce (sites),” Zhang says.

China’s new health kick is also spiking the demand for children’s nutritional supplements. Guangzhou Biostime Inc, a subsidiary of Biostime International Holdings Ltd (which is based in the United Kingdom), is a provider of premium pediatric nutrition and baby care products.

According to Euromonitor International, Biostime accounted for approximately 85.4 percent market share in retail sales of children’s probiotic supplements in China in 2009. Leo Zhu, the company’s senior sales director, says sales of probiotic supplements grow annually at about 20 percent in China. “We have been focusing on Chinese affluent mother consumers, who have bigger consumption power and are more willing to buy nutritional supplements for their children,” Zhu says.

But most industry leaders across the board acknowledge that importing products is not enough to support China’s healthcare market:  it needs a stronger foundation. “Although the Chinese government has successively launched many laws and regulations to regulate China’s health food industry in recent years, compared to the market in the US or Europe, China still have a lot to improve,” Luo Yang, an expert with the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Medicine and Health Products says. “We should further standardize China’s healthcare industry, so as to make local nutritional brands more competitive in the international market.”

SOURCE: Red Luxury

With Rising Affluence, Chinese Go For Health Products is a post from: China Travel Trends

Chinese Ornithological Tourism? Belgian racing pigeons lure rich Chinese aficionados is a post from: China Travel Trends

by Chia-Ling Melody Yuan

Arrivals at Los Angeles International Airport. Photo by Howard F.

Purchasing Power with Passports 带护照的购买力 is a post from: China Travel Trends

Just as luxury e-commerce is taking off in China, it should be no surprise that opulence-oriented travel sites are a potential boom area as well. And with that in mind comes Zanadu, launching this week, which curates luxury and boutique hotels around the world into an exclusive online travel service.

Beijing-based Zanadu claims to be the first such site of this type in the country, providing a highly tailored service to wealthy Chinese travelers who might like to avoid hum-drum travel websites such as Ctrip (NASDAQ:CTRP) or Qunar. So the startup has all of its listed hotels vetted in person by one of its “correspondents,” who are Chinese travel experts that will produce detailed articles (pictured below) for each place they visit, giving the site’s users a different angle from the usual hotel PR material.

A Balinese boutique resort’s page on Zanadu. Click to enlarge.

Speaking to PO, Zanadu’s CMO and creative director, Dirk Eschenbacher, explains that the startup aims to “build a community of like-minded travelers.” And so, to retain an air of exclusivity, it will remain an invitation-only service. But Dirk says that it’ll soon be open to anyone to browse the website (only the homepage is visible at the moment), and more social features will be added. After a month of beta testing, the site has implemented its core e-commerce features, and is now launching with a selection of boutique hotels and resorts on board.

Zanadu members, says Dirk, will get “benefits and privileges” such as discounts, which will be added to the service pretty soon. Also rolling out a bit later will be “VIP tailored trips [such as] eight-day trekking though the Amazon jungle with a local wildlife expert, or a wine tour around three chateaus in France with helicopter transfer.” Plus, aside from the curated and high-end content, the site aims to differentiate itself from mainstream travel services by having a much clearer web design and far larger photos.

Hit the Zanadu homepage where some invitations can be applied for, or follow the startup on Weibo.

SOURCE: PennOlson

Zanadu Brings a Curated Luxury Travel Service to Monied Chinese Consumers is a post from: China Travel Trends

China’s next big travel trend: U.S. TV show tours is a post from: China Travel Trends

As of 13^thFebruary, 2012, US Embassy in China launched new interview waiver program which is expected to benefit tens of thousands of applicants in China, saving them time and money, and making it easier for them to travel to the United States more frequently.

This new pilot program permits consular officers to waive interviews for some qualified nonimmigrant applicants worldwide who are renewing their visa within 48 months of the expiration of their previously held visa, and within the same classification as the previous visa.  In China, previous holders of B (temporary visitors for business/pleasure), C1 (transit), D (crewmembers), F (students), J (exchange visitors), M (nonacademic students), and O (visitors with extraordinary ability) visas will be able to renew the visas if they have been expired less than 48 months (four years), without another interview.

SOURCE: TLD CHINA

US Embassy in China lunched new interview waiver pilot program is a post from: China Travel Trends

ITB Convention, Workshops. Thursday, March 8, Room Regensburg. Only 45 seats available.
Please register with info@china-outbound.com to secure a seat before March 5th, 2012

Workshop conducted in English

Participation is free of charge, but participants need valid entry ticket for ITB

Time: 14.15 – 16.00

The Second Wave of China’s Outbound Tourism

Best practice example and individual tips on how to tap into the vast Chinese tourism market presented
by China tourism experts

Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Georg Arlt, Director, COTRI China Outbound Tourism Research Institute, Vice
Dean, Faculty of Economics, West Coast University of Applied Science
Mr. Thorsten Lind, Managing Director, Global Blue Germany
Mr. Victor Xu Shengli, Owner, Travelcode Solutions, former head of GNTB China
Jens Thraenhart, Co-Founder & President, DragonTrail.com & ChinaTravelTrends.com

Workshop at ITB: The New Chinese Tourists. The Second Wave of China’s Outbound Tourism is a post from: China Travel Trends

Market Expected To Record 30 Percent Growth In Coming Years

China’s booming luxury e-commerce market surpassed 10 billion yuan (US$1.59 billion) last year, a nearly 70 percent leap over 2010, according to a new study by iResearch. Despite the possibility of overcapacity, the market is expected to post 30 percent annual growth over the next several years.

As the report points out, last year’s 10.73 billion yuan is expected to surge to 37.24 billion by 2015, which looks even more dramatic considering luxury e-commerce turnover only reached 6.36 billion yuan in 2010. Interestingly, iResearch’s study did not take into consideration revenue generated by luxury goods’ direct-sales online stores.

According to Ding Jiaqi of iResearch, “Current online luxury purchasing was confined to top-class brands such as Hermes, Gucci and Louis Vuitton.” Added Ding, “Many second- and third-tier brands are not yet being sold in China. When they enter the market, online selling would be the best channel for them.”

Despite the rapidly growing revenues, the online luxury market in China makes up only 1.41 percent of the country’s total online retail market. However, this is expected to rise to eight percent by 2015. As Chen Xiao of the luxury e-commerce site ihaveu.com, told China News Weekly, “So far, China’s online luxury market remains small. We are waiting for it to explode.”

Held back by a crowded market of large and small vendors with limited inventory and little differentiation, it seems Chen will have to keep waiting. As Ding of iResearch noted, greater choice would be the biggest benefit to the industry, adding that bags, jewelry and watches are the most-purchased luxury items in China.

Despite reports that luxury e-commerce sites in China are finding it more difficult to attract venture capital, China Daily notes that one very positive statistic about the market is its young core demographic. According to iResearch, 80 percent of luxury online shoppers are under the age of 35, with those under the age of 24 accounting for 40 percent of purchases.

SOURCE: Jing Daily

China Online Luxury Market Surpasses 10 Billion Yuan For First Time is a post from: China Travel Trends

One of Thailand’s big hoteliers told me recently that in the past three years he had seen a huge increase in guests from mainland China and Russia – from just 5 percent of occupancy in his prime luxury hotel in Phuket to 70 percent currently.

Facing spending cutbacks from his main European customer base, he was talking to me about how to attract more Chinese tourists to his existing properties or perhaps open a new property targeting Chinese specifically when he suddenly said, “I’m not sure I want to cater more to mainland Chinese at my current hotels.”

His response took me aback slightly. Why would he not want to attract Chinese tourists, a fast-growing group that was helping him offset weak spending from Europe?

After all, the World Luxury Association reported that 62 percent of luxury goods sold in Europe in 2011 was bought by mainland tourists. That number will rise as my firm estimates over 60 million mainlanders will travel abroad in 2012. What travel and leisure business would not want to tap into such a growing market?

I pressed the hotelier for his reasons. He scratched the back of his head and said, “The problem with Chinese tourists is that their wants are so different from Europeans.”

The Chinese, he said, want lively, louder environments where they can shop for Louis Vuitton and Gucci bags and eat in large groups, while European visitors prefer a more tranquil, quiet, back-to-nature kind of experience. “When too many Chinese, Indians, and Russians come and we cater to them by opening shopping centers or set up large group tables, we see a clash with what the Europeans want. The Europeans leave and look for other quieter hotels, or different locations altogether. For instance, we have seen more Europeans leaving Phuket and going to Khao Lak and Krabi and other more peaceful areas.”

In other words, he was worried that he would lose his original core customer base by expanding it because the wants and expectations of Chinese are so different from other groups. Sharp differences in consumer wants and needs is a dilemma that everyone in the travel and leisure sector will have to handle – Chinese, Indians, and Russians are becoming the high-spenders, but how will that affect your current customer base? Will wealthy European women want to buy Louis Vuitton handbags if they see so many middle class Chinese tourists carrying them? Can a hotel be both lively and peaceful? Can you cater to all groups and, and if so how, or is it better to focus on one group? The complexity of managing such an environment will be taxing.

The Intercontinental Group gives clues on how to react to this shift. It has signed 12 contracts for mainland hotels under a new China brand (as yet unnamed) to open late 2012 or 2013.

It plans to expand the concept to other locations in key destinations in Asia and later worldwide to accommodate Chinese travelers as their numbers and spending power continue to rise. The 12 new hotels are planned for Beijing, Shanghai, as well as other second- and third-tier mainland cities that target the Chinese consumer first.

They will put out breakfast spreads featuring dishes Chinese visitors prefer, like congee and tea makers in the room. They will have more private dining rooms and cut bar space to cater to Chinese dining in groups.

Yet, the hotel chain is also continuing to open more hotels under its global Intercontinental and Holiday Inn brands. In other words, they are not choosing one target market but going after all by creating more niches.

LVMH similarly has been buying more brands like Bulgari to offer more price points and brands to different consumers. As Louis Vuitton is increasingly seen as “mass” luxury popular with middle class Chinese, the ultra-rich from China and around the world are turning towards more exclusive brands to set themselves apart.

As I said goodbye to the hotelier, it was clear that he had a choice he needed to make: He could either target his offerings to both Chinese and European customers, which would mean opening a second property to cater to each group’s needs better, or continue trying to be all things to all people and potentially lose both groups to hotels that are more targeted.

Either way, he cannot ignore his Chinese guests’ needs and will need to take them into account more in order to survive in a changing landscape.

Shaun Rein is the founder and managing director of the China Market Research Group (www.cmrconsulting.com.cn) a strategic market intelligence firm, and is based in Shanghai.

He is the author of the upcoming book “The End of Cheap China: Economic and Cultural Trends that will Disrupt the World” published by John Wiley & Sons in the U.S. He does not own shares in any company mentioned. Follow him on Twitter at @shaunrein.

SOURCE: CNBC Blogs

When Chinese Tourists Are Not Welcome is a post from: China Travel Trends

Consumer confidence also fell by one point last quarter in China from 105 to 104 according to third quarter global online consumer confidence findings from Nielsen, a leading global provider of insights and analytics into what consumers watch and buy.

According to the same Nielsen survey, Global online consumer confidence fell for the seventh consecutive quarter as confidence in 31 of 56 global markets measured declined. Top concerns of online consumers in Asia Pacific are economy, job security and work/life balance.

Asia Pacific continues to dominate the list of most optimistic countries with seven of the top 10 highest consumer confidence scores hailing from this region. India, despite a decline of five points, retains the top spot with an index of 121, followed by Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Brazil, Philippines, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, China, Hong Kong and Malaysia.

On the contrary, Taiwan scored only 87 points, down by two points.

Nielsen: China Online Consumers Still Among The Most Optimistic is a post from: China Travel Trends

LONDON — As the Chinese government ponders riding to the rescue of Europe’s battered economies, recent figures show Chinese tourists and shoppers are already doing their bit to revive the continent’s ailing finances.

Chinese travelers spent an unprecedented $7.2 billion on upscale brands during last month’s New Year festival, according to the World Luxury Association, and in the whole of last year, Chinese consumers accounted for about 62 percent of Europe’s luxury goods sales.

With domestic sales in the doldrums, Europe’s retail and hospitality industries are increasingly turning to the Chinese market to fill the gap.

Much of the Chinese spending is on European goods available duty free in Hong Kong and elsewhere in Asia. But parties of mainland Chinese travelers are no longer a novelty at Europe’s most noted tourist attractions, where they have replaced previous generations of visitors on the European Grand Tour.

“The Chinese are the new Japanese,” the Presseurop news review proclaimed, spotting the trend a year ago.

“Can China’s New Year shoppers save Europe?” the French-language site of China’s People’s Daily asked last week.

It quoted Xinxi Ribao, head of the Guangda International Travel Service, as saying Chinese tourists were primarily on the lookout for watches, Swiss chocolates, French bags, spectacles, cosmetics and scents, and Italian jewelry and leather goods. New Year shoppers often preferred to cut short their sightseeing in order to concentrate on shopping.

European analysts have produced voluminous research about how best to exploit the trend. A report last autumn by London University’s School of Oriental and African Studies, in association with Hilton Hotels and Resorts, estimated that the number of Chinese visitors to Europe would increase to 4.5 million by 2015 and to around 8.6 million by 2020. Already in 2010, Chinese outbound travelers spent €35 billion.

Like previous generations of visitors, members of China’s new rich are attracted to the cultural glories of Heritage Europe as much as its shopping opportunities. Sometimes they are invited to combine the two.

Spotting a sales opportunity among Chinese visitors who flock to King’s College, Cambridge, college authorities commissioned a £95, limited edition memorial plate from Royal Crown Derby inscribed with lines by Xu Zhimo. The 20th century Chinese poet was a former research student there and his “Saying Goodbye to Cambridge Again” is a favorite in China.

Chinese tourists have practical reasons for choosing Europe as a holiday destination outside Asia. The euro is relatively weak, while a single visa to any of Europe’s 25-nation Schengen group permits entry to all of the others. A British opt-out from the Schengen agreement puts Britain at a potential disadvantage, while France and Italy are the top destinations.

European tourism promoters were in Beijing in December to introduce the visiteurope.com portal in China. “We are incredibly excited about the huge potential for growing the number of Chinese visitors to Europe, so much so that we have made the decision to focus on China as one of our most important markets in our new strategy,” Petra Hedorfer, president of the European Travel Commission that groups national tourism offices, told her Chinese counterparts.

As with their other visitors, the European tourism industry has to be aware of cultural sensitivities and also target attractions that might most interest the Chinese. Professor Wolfang Georg Arlt made a tentative stab at that in a study presented to Germany’s Hochschule Bremen, the university for applied sciences.

He proposed Chinese visitors be directed to places connected with important cultural or historical figures — “The King of England, Jack the Ripper, Beckham.”

SOURCE: IHT Rendezvous

Chinese Tourists to the Rescue is a post from: China Travel Trends