What islands are Chinese tourists going to in 2015?

According to the Chinese online travel agency Tuniu’s mid-year report on the travel trends for the first half of 2015, [tweetable]25% of Chinese outbound tourists went to islands for their trips abroad[/tweetable]. According to the report, the top ten island destinations for Chinese outbound tourists in the first half of 2015 were:

1. Saipan
2. Bali
3. Phuket
4. Hawaii
5. Jeju
6. Maldives
7. Boracay
8. Palau
9. Mauritius
10. Okinawa

And the top 10 origin cities for outbound island travel were:

1. Shanghai
2. Beijing
3. Shenzhen
4. Guangzhou
5. Nanjing
6. Hangzhou
7. Tianjin
8. Chengdu
9. Hong Kong
10. Wuhan

The cost for Chinese tourists traveling to islands ranges from as little as 3,000 RMB per person, to as much as 30,000 RMB per person, with 6,500 RMB being the average during the summer period. Accommodation and transportation represent the largest share of the total costs, with entertainment (65%), followed by dining & drinking (25%), and shopping (10%) being the largest expenditures on the islands. The most popular travel-length for Chinese outbound island travelers was 6 days, which represents 40% of all outbound travel to islands. The majority of travel bookings was by mobile apps, with a share of over 50% of total bookings.

The most important factors for when Chinese outbound tourist decide on where to go were as follows for the Maldives:

1. Travel product price
2. Dinner included or not
3. Room types
4. Transportation from airport to island
5. Family friendliness
6. Wi-Fi access
7. Private pool
8. Water park products
9. Out of pocket expenses
10. Room amenities

According to data from Ctrip, 50% of Chinese outbound tourists to islands travelled to islands in the Southeast Asia Region, with [tweetable]8 out of 10 most popular islands providing visa-free entry or visa-on-arrival for Chinese tourists[/tweetable]. Island travel was shown to be most popular during summer vacations, Chinese National Day, and the Spring Festival holidays, which are also the periods that see the highest prices.

Demographically, island travel is more popular among women (57%) than men (43%), with the age group 30-60 representing 43% of all travelers, closely followed by 18-29 (37%). Children 1-17 years of age represent 14% of all travelers, with seniors 60> only 6% of all island travelers. The main groups of island travelers were couples (69.39%), friends (16.33%), and families (14.29%), with more than 60% of all outbound tourists to islands being FITs. For the many honeymooners, Bali, Saipan, and the Maldives were the most popular island destinations.

Ctrip further reports that travel to [tweetable]lesser-known, and often more expensive, islands is an increasingly popular trend[/tweetable], with growth of travel to destinations such as the Seychelles, Fiji, and Tahiti higher than growth of travel to more traditional island destinations for Chinese tourists.

Photo: Thomas, flickr