Chinese travelers step out boundaries
(China Today)
Updated: 2004-07-07 16:09

"For the past three years I've taken all my national holidays abroad," says Xia Zhiyuan, vice president of a foreign enterprise in Beijing, with satisfaction. Bearing in mind there are three such week-long holidays a year in China, he has obviously taken to overseas travel.

More and more Chinese take to overseas travel during holidays. [file photo]

As China adapts to and becomes a major aspect of the globalization trend, curiosity about other countries grows among Chinese white collars. Travel abroad is more accessible now than ever before, and relevant information is readily available through TV advertisements, tourism brochures and the Internet. The media abounds in images of exotic foreign landscapes, folk customs and day-to-day lifestyles.

"Now that I have my own house and car, I feel it's time to see other parts of the world," says Xia. His aspirations endorse results of tourism research showing that citizens start taking domestic holidays when their country's GDP hits US $800 to US $1,000, and that upon reaching US $4,000 to US $10,000 their fancy turns to overseas travel. A World Tourism Organization report shows that China is the world's fastest growing tourism market. In the next 20 years, an estimated 100 million Chinese tourists will tread foreign soil.

In recent years, the Chinese people have displayed a growing passion for travel abroad. Overseas tour groups are fully booked a month in advance of the three week-long holidays in May, October and January/February, and Chinese tourists are seen in Europe, America, Oceania and Southeast Asia. A far broader scope of tourism destinations is open to Chinese holiday makers than ever before since China National Tourism Administration Chairman He Guangwei signed agreements with 28 countries and regions regarding entry of individual Chinese tourists.

Going to Wonderland

As more Chinese plan travel abroad, overseas travel itineraries proliferate. According to one survey, tourism destinations most favored by Chinese tourists are Europe (27.4 percent), Australia and New Zealand (25.5 percent) and the USA (21.7 percent'. Results of Australian market research show a marked preference among Chinese tourists for the USA, France and Australia.

More and more Chinese are applying to travel abroad.

In order to keep pace with the growing demand, Chinese travel agencies now offer European and island tour itineraries. Forty-five-year-old Li Jian is chairman of the board of directors of a building materials and home renovations company in Beijing. He has long dreamed of a trip to Europe. "I started listening to Western classical music and reading literary works by great European writers when young, and am familiar with European history. I have always wondered what kind of living environment it was that inspired French writer Maupassant, whether or not the Danube is really blue and if there is actually a Vienna Forest as depicted in Johann Strauss's music. I have always longed to go to Europe, but it was an impossible dream until China's opening."

Li's dream came true when he joined a business tour group to Europe in 1999. In order to get a whiff of the cultured but decadent lifestyle of the 17th and 18th century French aristocracy he went to the Louvre in Paris and the palace at Versailles. Driving through the Austrian mountains, Li saw with his own eyes that the Danube is truly blue. He watched it flow through the city, to the accompaniment of Strauss' music from a viewing platform in the Vienna Forest. He had finally set foot in his dreamland and seen the many glorious monuments to the history and culture of European civilization. Other middle-aged Chinese people share Li's dreams and eagerly anticipate greater Chinese and Western cultural interchange.

Island tours are most popular among the young generation. Tired of the big city high-pressure work routine, they generally prefer an exotic experience in a totally different but undemanding culture that allows total relaxation.

Major Tourism Consumers

"Have any Chinese tourists been in your shop? If not, prepare for an onslaught of Chinese tour groups; they will guarantee you profits for at least another 50 years," was the advice of one overseas market research report. Businesses around the world now associate Chinese consumers with projected profits. One woman from Beijing is having the time of her life in a Hong Kong shopping mall. Convinced that Hong Kong fashions are superior to those in Beijing she has spent almost US $4,000 on this shopping expedition alone, and is weighed down with newly purchased designer clothes, jewelry and famous brand cosmetics. Statistics from a well-known investment bank show that mainland Chinese spend more than Americans, Japanese or Europeans in Hong Kong. Although they generally prefer to stay in budget hotels, their purchasing power is far from modest. Shopping is their main motivation for visiting Hong Kong.

The rapid growth of the Chinese economy provides numerous business opportunities for the hotel, aviation and tourism industries, to name just three. At the 15th General Assembly of the World Tourism Organization held in Beijing, Secretary-General Francesco Frangialli said: "Our information indicates that the Chinese are set to become major tourism consumers. I know that many of our member countries are taking this chance to enhance their business connections with the Chinese market, and I heartily encourage them to do so."

As overseas tours rapidly multiply in China, overseas tourism organizations are more aware that satisfying Chinese consumers is a sure way of ensuring profits. One European hotel chain employs full-time staff specifically to receive Chinese tour groups, and American business hotels are starting to cater to Chinese travelers' tastes. Some Paris boutiques display signs stating that they provide a Chinese language service in their shops. Others train their sales staff to speak simple Chinese. Spring Festival (Chinese Lunar New Year) is now an official holiday in Indonesia, and at this time there are abundant cultural activities in many other Southeast Asian countries, especially Thailand.

Within a generally sluggish world economy, China's economy booms, which is why famous world tour destinations go all out to attract Chinese visitors. The World Tourism Organization predicts that in 2020, the number of Chinese traveling abroad will reach an all-time high. In the meantime, Chinese tourists are fast becoming a major spur to the world tourism market.

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