China is now the largest outbound tourism source country in Asia, having overtaken Japan. In 2011, 70 million Chinese travelled overseas, spending US$69 billion, a 22% and 25% increase over last year respectively. In 2009 (when we published the first edition of China Travel Trends book) and 2010, China’s travel market grew dramatically despite the recession, and total gross bookings exceeded US$62 billion. China’s total travel market is expected to reach $73 billion by 2012. The Boston Consulting Group has forecast that China is expected to become the world’s second-largest travel and tourism market by 2013. By 2020, there will be a 100 million global travellers from China, according to the United Nations World Tourism Organization. This further confirms a general trend towards more outbound travel among China’s growing middle classes. China currently accounts for 6% of revenue of global tourism, and this will increase to 8% in 2013 and 14% in 2020.
Following the success of the first version of the China Travel Trends, published by ChinaTravelTrends.com in the Year of the Tiger, and produced in collaboration with Dragon Trail, COTRI (China Outbound Tourism Research Institute), VariArts, and GreenEarth.travel, we are pleased to present the second version in the Year of the Dragon. The Dragon Edition is published by ChinaTravelTrends.com, and produced in collaboration with Dragon Trail, COTRI, and PATA (Pacific Asia Travel Association).
This “Essential China Travel Trends Guide – Year of the Dragon Edition” is designed to de-mystify some of the trends and issues international travel companies are facing when they enter the Chinese market and are looking to attract Chinese consumers. To do business successfully in China, or anywhere for that matter, companies need to understand the consumer and the trends – and both are changing very quickly in China.
We thank all our authors, advisors, partners, and sponsors for their valuable contributions. Without them this booklet would have never been possible. We hope you find the read intriguing, inspiring, motivating, entertaining, educational and valuable. For any help related to entering the Chinese market or marketing to Chinese consumers, the producers of the book, Dragon Trail (an award-winning digital marketing company), COTRI (a leading China Outbound research firm) and PATA (an authoritative body when it comes to tourism development in Asia Pacific) are more than pleased to be of assistance.
We invite you to download the eBook version of this book here on ChinaTravelTrendsBook.com.
Happy reading.
Jens Thraenhart, Beijing, April 2012
Publisher & Editorial Director, China Travel Trends (ChinaTravelTrends.com)
Co-Founder & President, Dragon Trail (DragonTrail.com)
Chair, PATA China (PATA.org)
