The growth of Chinese outbound tourism expected to continue in 2016

After the New Year break, the Shanghai customs bumped into a few busy days because almost 100 thousand people crossed the border during this period, which indicates that more Chinese citizens are travelling overseas. However, the busy days for the immigration officers are not likely to end soon, as this number of overseas travelers will continue to grow in 2016.

According to the online travel agencies in China, the number of people booking a trip overseas has been experiencing a double-digit growth. Depreciating foreign currencies like Euro and Japanese Yen are making travelling and shopping in these countries cheaper than before, and the growing purchasing power of Chinese customers has also made many countries loosen their visa restrictions. In this way, it is now possible for more Chinese tourists to consider travelling abroad instead of staying at home during holidays.

During the last Chinese New Year holiday, there were more overseas travelers than domestic travelers for the first time in history. As Chinese citizens are becoming more affluent, they have started to pay more attention to the quality of travelling, and this is the bonus point of travelling overseas. In the Chinese domestic tourism market, swindling behavior is not rare to be seen, which greatly upsets the tourists who wish to enjoy their leisure time. Furthermore, the prices in China are getting gradually higher, which means a domestic trip may cost even more than a trip overseas. And travelling outside of China usually guarantees better service, clean air, and a more attractive cultural atmosphere. All these factors push Chinese tourists outside and therefore lead to the rapid development of the outbound tourism market.

However, there is more to be done to deal with the growing number of Chinese tourists better. Although the incoming Chinese tourists have contributed considerably to the economic development of the tourism destination, it is also possible that they disturb the local residents due to their large numbers as well as the cultural differences. Therefore, it is necessary that the travel agencies and tourism destination establish closer cooperation in order to be better prepared for this new development of the tourist market. This includes a better understanding of the behavior patterns and needs of the Chinese tourists and certain languages skills given that many tourists cannot speak English.

Source: CCTV

Photo: flickr