Chinese tourists are now the biggest spending Asian tourists, spending an average of $874 per person on shopping whilst overseas, according to the latest figures from TravelZoo Inc.
A total of 4,000 respondents took part in the survey by Travelzoo, a travel media company based in the US, which included travelers from the Chinese mainland, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and also Japan and Australia.
According to TravelZoo, Hong Kong remains the favorite destination for Chinese mainland tourists, just ahead of the United States, France, Italy and Japan.
The news is significant because the World Tourism Organization recently predicted the number of Chinese tourists travelling to overseas country will grow to more than 100 million by the end of this decade. The increased spending power and growing numbers of Chinese tourists is slowly forcing foreign tourism organizations and businesses to adapt in order to better cater for their needs.
To this end, it has already become common in some countries to see hotels, shopping malls and restaurants with Chinese language signs and menus. Meanwhile, the European Travel Commission is also beginning to take Chinese tourism more seriously, having recently launched a new China portal to cater to visitors from the mainland.
Other countries have stepped up efforts to entice Chinese tourists. VisitBritain, a website ran by the UK’s tourism authority, has just launched a new marketing campaign targeting China this month. The campaign is drawing on the help of prominent tourist attractions in London and other cities, such as the Tower of London and Liberty’s, a well known emporium. Meanwhile, British Airways has also lent a hand, offering discounted fares on its China to UK flights to entice more visitors.
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