Chengdu solidifying its position as a key source market for Chinese outbound travel

Chengdu’s hosting of the inaugural Travel Trade Market (TTM) this coming September 5-7 is highly indicative not only of the continued growth in stature of the Sichuan provincial capital, but also the increasing importance of second, third and even lower-tiered cities in the field of Chinese outbound tourism on the whole.

Focused on outbound source markets beyond first-tier cities Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, the B2B-focused industry event aims to provide international tour operators greater access to these untapped markets. Accordingly, TTM will not clash with the objectives of the existing Shanghai-based ITB China fair or the Beijing-based China Outbound Travel & Tourism Market (COTTM), but will instead address the needs of its own target audiences.

China’s second-tier cities’ increasingly prominence as centres of economic prosperity in their own right is accordingly being reflected in their status as drivers of outbound tourism market trends. According to Ctrip data, the list of the ten fastest-growing domestic markets for its modular-focused Customized Travel platform in 2017 was dominated by second and third-tier cities, with Chengdu having established itself as the product’s fourth-largest overall customer base[…]

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Image: Chengdu by George N Source: Flickr Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)