When it Comes to Travel, Chinese Urban Citizens Have Different Preferences

Chinese travellers are still flooding the world’s major tourism hotspots. While some destinations such as Western Europe are suffering losses based on safety concerns, this does not mean that fewer Mainland Chinese travellers are taking overseas trips. Upon closer inspection, it becomes clear that Chinese from different cities throughout the country have very distinct travel preferences and behaviour.

The latest edition of the COTRI Market Report has analysed four first tier and fifteen second tier Chinese cities as a means of gaining an insight into the diverse range of source markets for Chinese outbound tourism and the differing travel habits of Chinese consumers throughout the country.

Affluent residents of first tier cities, for example, have often already worked through the list of “must-see” destinations such as Sydney, Singapore, Paris and New York, and are now looking for more “exotic” locations like Iceland or the Seychelles. Yet, even within this group, residents of various first tier cities display different travel preferences, ranging from the sun-seeking northerners from Beijing, the shoppers from Shanghai and the fun-loving holiday-makers from Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

Between second tier cities, however, the differences are even greater. While some cities, such as Chengdu and Hangzhou, are well-equipped with visa centres and international airports that offer many direct air connections to overseas destinations, residents of Xiamen or Jinan are faced with a far more limited choice of air connections, visa application centres and international tourism fairs.

Accordingly, the type of marketing and services aimed at potential customers from different cities must be tailored to their levels of travel savviness, while also taking into account factors such as the relaxed approach to leisure seen in Chengdu, or Qingdao residents’ passion for new business opportunities.

Notably, second and third tier cities have now become the country’s fasting-growing source markets, adding around ten million or so Chinese to the “club” of international travellers in 2016. While most of the residents of these cities could have been expected to travel with package tour groups in the past, today the younger travellers among this group especially are more likely to skip this phase book their flight tickets, hotels and rental cars directly via OTAs such as Tuniu or Ctrip. This trend has been further accelerated by the growing number of multiple-entry visa policies available to Chinese nationals.

COTRI China Outbound Tourism Research Institute provides expert insights into the worldwide developments of China’s outbound tourism market. As Chinese outbound tourists are travelling to a large range of destinations, our publications cover a number of regions, providing detailed insights and analysing visitor behaviour.

With COTRI’s insights you can forge a successful business strategy built upon in-depth market expertise, comprehensive qualitative analysis and future projections. The Autumn 2016 Edition of the COTRI Market report features in-depth exploration of the developing trends in the field, supported by a wealth of qualitative and quantitative statistical research.

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