COTRI’s Professor Arlt in ITB Panel Discussion

COTRI’s Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Georg Arlt took part in the panel discussion “Focus on Asia: The Future of China’s Outgoing Tourism in Times of Economic Downturn” during ITB Berlin, Wednesday 9 March. Joining Professor Arlt on stage were Sherri Wu of Alitrip, Joseph Xia of Jin Jiang, and John Zhong of Ctrip. The panel discussion was moderated by Charlie Li, the founder and CEO of TravelDaily China. The central questions for the panelists were: How will the behavior of Chinese tourists change regarding travel expenses, duration, travel style and destinations? Will the information and booking behavior of Chinese tourists change as well? 

Charlie Li emphasized that only 5% of the Chinese population are passport-holders, making it clear that the Chinese outbound tourism market is both enormous and relatively untapped. Professor Arlt continued by saying “When people talk about ‘the Chinese traveller’, it is misleading. We are talking about the top 5% of the country.”

Different Chinese customer segments were also discussed, in particular the “money rich, time poor” millennials, and the growing group of “money rich, time rich” that are increasingly inclined to travel abroad.

In response to the main topic of the panel discussion, Professor Arlt pointed out that “Chinese people will not stop becoming rich, they will just get rich a bit more slowly.”