United Kingdom competing to attract more Chinese visitors

Statistics from VisitBritain, the United Kingdom’s national tourism agency, show a 20 percent increase in Chinese tourists visiting the country at the beginning of 2015, with total visits more than doubling over the last five years. Chinese tourists in the UK already stay an average of ten nights, compared to the average of six nights among all inbound tourists – and also spend significantly more than the average tourist visiting the UK. [tweetable]Chinese tourists in the UK spend £2,688 on average, approximately four times the average of all inbound tourists.[/tweetable]

Needless to say, Chinese visitors is an important contributor to the UK economy, and according to VisitBritain, [tweetable]for each increase of 22 Chinese tourists, one more job in the domestic tourism industry is created.[/tweetable]

In response to this development and as an attempt to better cater to Chinese tourists, VisitBritain has developed its GREAT China Welcome programme that seeks to support tourism service providers with information and expertise in how to attract and satisfy this increasingly important customer segment. COTRI China Outbound Tourism Research Institute has already through its UK COTRI Country Partner provided COTRI’s China Tourist Welcome (CTW) programme to hundreds of participants in the UK as part of VisitBritain’s GREAT China Welcome initiative with great results.

To read more about the China Tourist Welcome (CTW) training programme, please click here.

Photo: Nana B Agyei, flickr