Located in the East of Asia, China is the third largest country in the world after Russia and Canada. China has a rich cultural heritage, famous historical monuments and stunning landscapes such as the Li River or rice fields. Very proud of their country, Chinese people still really want to discover other parts of the world.

A significant growth

China is a market segment that is growing exponentially. Indeed, the results of the recent years have shown that China has recorded the highest growth in the world. Several factors explain this growth: urbanization, rising of incomes or the easing of restrictions to travel abroad. According to the WTO, the volume of international travel by Chinese rose from 10 million in 2000 to 83 million in 2012. In addition, expenditures abroad have risen sharply due to the high consumption (most of the time luxury) of the Chinese tourists.

Chinese travellers that can travel outside the country represent an “elite” group of the entire population. They like to travel in groups or scheduled tours offered by travel agencies.

Effective tourism strategy

China launches new tourism strategy to develop outbound tourism. The Chinese government has put in place the basics for a new development approach and management of tourism in the country. It therefore supports outbound tourism and to distribute better the economical, environmental and socio cultural tourism.

Several studies have shown that the Chinese upper middle class now has a high level of savings and income that allows traveling more outside the country.

The most popular destinations

Among the various popular destinations for the Chinese; those that attract the most of tourists in 2013 are France, Italy, Switzerland and Germany for Europe. Outside Europe, the most popular countries are Burma, Thailand and Australia. Indeed, David of CFA Voyage confirms this trend: “I actually have more and more customers who contact me to book tours in Burma, this destination is very popular this year and attracts many travelers”. It is important to know that this is the Internet and the Social Medias that inspire and influence all the decisions of the Chinese tourists in their choice of destination. In addition, it is interesting to know that the Chinese have several criteria when choosing their destination: cleanliness, safety, price and supply of prestige. Habits of Chinese tourists are very different from those of Westerners.

Finally, it is expected that in 2020, there will be over than 115 million of departures from China each year. The Chinese tourists seem to want to go in other continent to see the different culture and different way of life. We can finish this article saying that the on line tourism (or e-tourism) is the new trend in the habits of Chinese people. They use various platforms of travel websites to book their reservation. They think it is easier to do it on the web. If you want to read more about e-tourism, click here.