There’s been plenty of evidence presented to convince the world that China is fast rising towards becoming the most influential international tourism market there is but a new report gets a little more specific with the details.
Not only should the world be catering to the needs of the Chinese traveler, apparently, it should be catering to the needs of Chinese women in particular.
The “2010 Trend Report of Women’s Travel” claims the amount spent on travel by “well educated and well-paid” single Chinese women rose to 4,300 yuan (468 euros) last …

Passengers from China are welcomed by the commissioner of the Japan Tourism Agency and Hello Kitty at Narita airport. Soon, it will be easier than ever for Chinese travelers to say, ‘Hello Kitty!’

Chinese tourists who travel often to Japan will find the hassles of transit less stressful with the launch of a program to enable multiple-entry visas for individuals later this year.
The Japanese government plans to initiate the new system in summer. The offices of foreign minister Seiji Maehara and Japan Tourism Agency chief Hiroshi Mizohata are currently hammering …

Interview with Australian Ambassador Dr. Geoff Raby on Chinese Tourist Cities
Reporter:
As an old friend of Chinese people who first visited China in 1986, which Chinese city has made the deepest impression on you? What are the most popular Chinese cities for Australians?

Dr. Geoff Raby:
It’s a difficult question to answer. I like many Chinese cities. What I appreciate is the uniqueness of different Chinese cities. The ones I have been to, the most，would be Qingdao, Shanghai, Wuhan, Dalian and Harbin.

I have to say I like the cities on the coast because …

A patron wearing a Mickey Mouse hat walks in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle at Walt Disney Co’s Disneyland amusement park in Anaheim, California. The number of Chinese tourists to the US is set to pass the 1 million mark by the end of this year. (Photo: China Daily)
Thousands of Chinese tourists will spend the Christmas holiday period in the United States this year.
New York City, California, and Hawaii are among the more popular destinations as organizations such as United Airlines, Disneyland Park in California, the California Travel and Tourism …

The Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao’s entourage includes some 400 business leaders — far more than the number that accompanied Barack Obama or Nicolas Sarkozy — may not be accidental.
For the Chinese, an India trip means business before leisure.
A survey by the Indian tourism ministry shows that more Chinese, compared with other foreign visitors, come with “business and professional’’ purposes. Of the 96,997 Chinese who came to India in 2009, as many as 50.4 per cent said business was their priority.
Another 41.5 per cent said they had come on vacation and …

China has started a new route between Auckland and Guangzhou, thus boosting the tourism ties between the two countries. China Southern Airlines is the first airline to take this initiative and will be running three flights via Melbourne each week carrying 88,000 extra seats every year than they are available as of now.
Simon Moutter, who is the chief executive at Auckland airport, believes that it will be giving a boost of extra $50 million. They are looking forward to tourism from China and other Asian countries as it will be …

China and India are the key hospitality markets that by 2015 will have rapid tourism growth on year-on-year basis than the United Kingdom, France or Japan, reveals a new report.
According to Hospitality 2015: Game Changers or Spectators by Deloitte, middle classes of China and India along with the aging population of the US are two demographic trends that will create new patterns of travel and demand.
It says the middle classes of China and India will create new trends as their travel patterns evolve from domestic to regional to …

Tourists enter the Louvre museum in Paris.With a rising middle class and stronger currency exchange,Chinese tourists have been flocking to Europe in increasing numbers,providing a boost to the continent’s tourism industry. [Bloomberg]

Internet-savvy youth provide growing market for online tour companies

BEIJING – To catch a glimpse of the mystical northern lights, ride scooters across snowy forests, or catch a 15-kg king crab from the cold sea, is a privilege that is being enjoyed by more and more wealthy Chinese.
The “Chasing Northern Lights” voyage …

Guam Pacific beach view ocean kayaks palms [Photo: flickr.com]
The Guam Visitors Bureau will launch charter flights from Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou and Shenyang to Guam, respectively during 2011′s Spring Festival to attract more Chinese tourists.
The charter flights are collaborated efforts between the American Continental Airlines and China’s domestic tourism industry. Starting from February, 9, charter flights will fly from China to Guam, including three from Beijing, three from Shanghai, two from Hangzhou and one from Shenyang. More than 1,300 tourists are expected to spend the Spring Festival in Guam.
Tourism is the …

China’s outbound tourism will survive the coming economic downturn in China, because Chinese are not travelling for indiviual pleasure.

The Japanese government on Thursday relaxed visa rules applicable to Chinese nationals to encourage more tourists to visit and help boost the nation’s flagging retail sector.
In July 2009, Japan began granting individual tourist visas to Chinese nationals who earn 250,000 yuan (36,000 U.S. dollars) a year or more, but the conditions have been eased to encourage more Chinese people to choose Japan as their vacation destination spot. “Chinese middle-class families with certain income level and employment status can also make individual trips to Japan, without joining group tours,” Takahisa Kashiwagi, …

Canada is rolling out the welcome mat for Chinese visitors now that it has secured its long awaited Approved Destination Status (ADS), but bargain-price trips won’t be among the offerings according to officials in the country’s tourism sector.
With Canada receiving the designation on Thursday during President Hu Jintao’s state visit to Canada ahead of the G20 summit in Ontario this weekend, Chinese tourists can now visit the country in organized, pre-sold tourist groups.
Canada joins a list of 130-plus nations and regions designated to receive Chinese travelers. However, unlike some earlier …

At the second Straits Forum in Fujian, a Taiwanese tour operator said visitors from the Chinese mainland will soon be allowed to travel to Taiwan, alone.
Currently, mainland visitors have to book through an agent and travel with a group.
Zeng Junxiong, Executive Director of China Straits Culture Tourism Assoc. said “By the end of the year, tourists from the mainland will be permitted to travel to Taiwan on their own. The new regulation will bring a new wave of mainland visitors to Taiwan. A platform like the Strait Forum attracts many …

The Managing Director of Namibia Wildlife Resorts (NWR) Tobie Aupindi has told said that Namibian tourism sector has focused on China as a tourism emerging market, aiming to attract more Chinese  tourists to Namibia.
Aupindi said in a recent interview with Xinhua that foreign tourists to Namibia came from Germany and other European countries which had kindred relations with Namibia. Because of the global financial crisis, the country’s tourism industry has suffered a decline with dissatisfactory performance in recent years.
With China’s economic development and significantly increase in people’s well-beings, since 2007, …

China is New Zealand’s fourth-largest tourism market, with more than 100,000 visitors for the year to April 30.
Tourism operators offering shoddy New Zealand tours for Chinese visitors are the target of a revised code of conduct aimed at cleaning up the industry.
Tourism New Zealand introduced a code of conduct in November 2007 aimed at improving the quality of tours for Chinese visitors, one of New Zealand’s fastest growing tourist markets.
Two buses involved in tours around the Queenstown-Milford Sound area were deemed “not fit for service”, after inspections by the Transport …

China is leading the global tourism industry, having done what few other countries -including developed Western nations – have not:  acknowledge the effects that the travel and tourism industry have on the economy.
China has declared tourism to be “a strategic pillar of its economic reform,” said Jean-Claude Baumgarten, president of London-based World Travel and Tourism Council, at the WTTC’s 10th annual summit Wednesday in Beijing.
Last November, the State Council approved policies that will promote the industry under the “Guidelines to Accelerate the Development of the Tourism Industry.”
The world’s leaders in …

The Chinese online travel market will see slowed but continued growth in 2009 according to the PhoCusWright’s Asia Pacific Online Travel Overview. China’s position as a powerful emerging economy and home to 1.3 billion people with increasing access to wealth has made it a dynamic backdrop for travel growth and innovation. Online travel penetration in China will increase to 14% in 2009, up from 11% and will continue to grow in 2010. The total Chinese travel market, however, will contract in 2009, only slightly outperforming the total Asia Pacific region which …