Chinese tourists remain as the biggest spenders on foreign travel

Although the development of Chinese economy has been slowing down, one segment of its economy is still steadily growing: the Chinese outbound tourism.

International travelling of China distinguishes itself from that of other countries with the willingness of Chinese tourists to spend more money abroad. According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization, Chinese tourists spent USD 165 billion in the countries they visited in 2014, far exceeding that of American tourists who are ranked on the second place.

More remarkably, this enormous spending of Chinese tourists abroad was achieved by only a small fraction of the entire population. Only 6% of Chinese citizens possess a passport, while 46% of US citizens have a passport. This comparison implies that the outbound tourism market of China is still going to grow for a long time to come. If the Chinese economy continues to grow for the next years, it is reasonable to assume that more Chinese citizens will be able to travel overseas, thus raising the sum of money spent overseas.

As a matter of fact, China is a country with gorgeous and changeful landscape as well as abundant cultural resources which are attractive for tourists. One important reason why America was lagging behind China regarding spending overseas is that many American tourists choose to have their vacation in the country. It could have been reasonable to deduce that Chinese tourists would do the same. But actually, more and more Chinese tourists choose to drop their money abroad after becoming affluent, which differs China from other countries which already have abundant travelling resources. One important reason for that is the exacerbating environmental problems. Due to the widespread air pollution in China, many people would rather prefer travelling abroad to enjoy some fresh air and clean water, which are a luxury in China. Furthermore, the quality of travelling in China is also questionable. Swindling behavior and crimes against tourists are frequently seen, which discourage many people who would originally prefer to have a domestic trip.

Due to this rapidly growing outbound tourism market of China, many countries and their tourism companies are doing their best to establish closer business relationship with China. With their efforts, Chinese tourists may bump into more Chinese elements when they enjoy their trip abroad. This could encourage them to spend more money abroad, but more needs to be done to understand the demands of Chinese tourists better, as China is still a relatively new market and its culture still partly unknown to the Western countries.

Source: Forbes

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