Outbound Spring Festival travel boosts global tourism
- By Gong Jie
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E-mail China.org.cn, February 13, 2017
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Chinese tourists travel abroad. (Photo/Xinhua) |
"I intended to go to a quiet place with my husband, but finally our whole family flied to the United States for the Spring Festival because we bought special tickets," said Mrs. Yin from Beijing. During the Spring Festival, Spring Festival couplets and golden rooster decorations can be seen in almost every big hotel in Las Vegas, and many department stores offer discounts for the Chinese visitors.
It has become a new trend for the Chinese to celebrate the Spring Festival overseas. According to the statistics from the Chinese government, about 6.15 million Chinese citizens choose to travel abroad during the Spring Festival, up 7 percent from last year. Among them, 374,000 choose group tours, up 2.5 percent from last year. Overseas travel during the Spring Festival golden week boosts the global tourism market.
The hottest Spring Festival golden week
According to the statistics from the official website of the China National Tourism Administration, this year's Spring Festival holiday was a peak period for Chinese to travel overseas.
According to the Hong Kong Immigration Department, 697,000 mainland visitors travelled to Hong Kong during the Spring Festival, a 3.7 percent rise year-on-year. According to statistics from Macao Tourism Office, 533,000 mainland visitors travelled to Macao during the Spring Festival, a 8.5-percent rise year-on-year.
Many Chinese choose to travel abroad with their families during the Spring Festival. According to online travel agency Tuniu.com, rising income levels, improvements in transportation infrastructure, visa facilitations, popularization of the internet and smart phones are behind Chinese people's rising overseas travel trends. Southeast Asian countries are the most popular destinations, with Thailand at the top of the list.
According to statistics from online travel services provider Ctrip, during the Spring Festival in 2017, Chinese tourists from 242 domestic cities travelled to 1,254 cities in 85 countries.
Most Chinese have not travelled overseas. Therefore, the market for outbound tourism has a huge potential in the future. Chinese citizens from second-tier and third-tier cities will have a huge demand for outbound tourism in the future.
Chinese New Year highlighted by overseas merchants
In order to attract more Chinese tourists to celebrate the Spring Festival, a series of Chinese New Year tourism products are available in some countries.
In Australia, the New Year Celebration held by the Sydney government lasted from Jan. 27 to Feb. 12, with 80 traditional Chinese cultural shows. In London, Dragon and lion dance performances can be seen in Trafalgar Square. In Belgium, a cruise for the Spring Festival was hold in Brussels. In Thailand, Chinese food culture and traditional art show were popular in Thailand Spring Festival activities organized by Culture and Tourism authorities. In Singapore, the 10-day Spring Festival celebration was started by a light show.
In some hot destinations for the Chinese tourists, such as France, Italy and Switzerland, special services are arranged for Chinese visitors. For example, shopping guides who speak Mandarin are arranged in every counter in Galeries Lafayette in Paris.
"In some department stores in Thailand, we can use Alipay to buy whatever we want and the tax refund can be returned to our Alipay account. It is really convenient,' said Mrs. Liu.
US$14.55 billion spent on overseas travel
According to a report jointly compiled by the China Tourism Academy (CTA) and online travel services provider Ctrip, the average tour package for Chinese going abroad cost US$1,310 during the Spring Festival in 2017, up 12 percent year-on-year.
Outbound tourists accounted for 59 percent of its Spring Festival business. The highest cost for Spring Festival overseas travel is more than US$72,500 and the destination is the South Pole.
High quality overseas travel
More and more Chinese tourists would like to experience high quality overseas travel by customized service, instead of just shopping, sleeping in a bus and taking photos.
According to Tuniu.com, 32 percent of its clients choose a high quality group tour package. The customized service has now become the third choice for tourists, behind group tour package and DIY tour.
Polar tourism and cruises enjoyed great popularity among tourists, especially the elderly, during the 2017 Spring Festival. 34.6 percent of the tourists who joined in cruises during the Spring Festival are over 50 years old. And that proportion is over 50.6 percent for the South Pole cruise tour.
With the development of the Chinese economy and an increase in national income, tourism is more diversified, personalized and high-quality.
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