LONDON — Chinese travelers are returning to Western Europe and other destinations, but their preferences look quite different from before the pandemic.
For example, how Chinese travelers booking international trips choose their destination is heavily swayed by the presence of visa-free entry.
Speaking on the panel “Understanding the power of Chinese travelers: Trends to capitalize on, and pitfalls to avoid” at the World Travel Market, David Goodger, managing director for Europe, Middle East and Africa at Tourism Economics, said the Chinese outbound market currently is the world’s fastest-growing market. Of course, this comes from a low base since China took longer to emerge from lockdowns after the pandemic and its economic growth has been relatively sluggish.
“It is 25% below the 2019 number at the moment, and [the nature of its outbound travel] is changing,” he said. “In 2019, it was about big-ticket tourism, but now it is more independent. Yes, there still will be first-time travelers wanting to go to iconic destinations, but we’re seeing the average age dropping. Travelers are more comfortable with new technologies.”
More Chinese travelers are booking trips independently of traditional large tour groups, and they seem to prefer to go to destinations where it is quick to get to and not difficult to enter, said Sienna Parulis-Cook, director of marketing and communications at digital-marketing firm Dragon Trail International.
“The huge trend is in visa-free travel. To places like Malaysia and Singapore, and if there are any places that are getting group, it is to places such as these. Also, there are fewer shoppers [among Chinese travelers], but they are spending more on average,” she said.
Gary Bowerman, director at business consultancy Check-in Asia, said Chinese shopping has diversified, with wellness now being a major consideration. Parulis-Cook added that this first wave of Chinese travelers are using trips to “relax and rewind.”
Panelists said two caveats are that Chinese travel trends are apt to change very quickly and that a significant demographic of China's traveling public are hesitant to book vacations internationally.
Before the pandemic, China was the largest outbound market with some 150 million trips annually , said Mingjie Wang, journalist at China Daily. He added similar levels of outbound international demand from China will eventually return.
New interests
This new wave of Chinese travelers isn't just flocking to the world's most popular cities and landmarks. Their interests have broadened to outdoor activities, road trips and travel for major sporting events, which all lead to diversified travel spend, panelists said.
Emanuel Lehner-Telič, head of markets for Asia-Pacific at Austria Tourism, said his organization initiated the Chinese-Austrian Friendship Trail in the Chinese province of Sichuan, which he said resembles the Alps in Austria. The campaign has resulted in Chinese travelers booking trips to see the Alps in person in Austria.
“In Austria, it was 50% [foreign independent travelers] before the pandemic, but now we almost have no group, and they are staying longer. No longer it is seven countries in seven days, and there has been a 25% increase in room nights, up to 1.7 nights per visitor,” Lehner-Telič said.
Bowerman said hospitality providers might also want to change their rental-car stock.
“Another trend we’re seeing is in the electric-vehicle market. China is the largest producer, and they are being imported into Southeast Asian countries, and they are in the rental pool,” he said.
Sporting events are bringing in Chinese travelers, too. Alhasan Aldabbagh, president of Asia-Pacific markets, Saudi Tourism Authority, said Saudi Arabia is targeting 5 million Chinese travelers by 2030, the year the country’s mammoth Vision2030 projects finalizes its first stage. Major sporting events are one of the driving forces behind securing that number.
“We have [Cristiano] Ronaldo,” he said, referring to the fact that Portuguese soccer sensation currently is signed to a team in the relatively new Saudi Pro League.
“We have exclusive packages to watch him train,” Aldabbagh added.
But providing such draws will not work until markets develop seamless travel experiences, Aldabbagh said.
“China has much different booking and payment systems than nearly every other country, including Saudi Arabia. We have invested much into things such as making sure AliPay is accepted and seamless,” he said.
The huge outbound surge of Chinese travelers is wrapped up in notions of trust and comfort, Bowerman said. China’s airplane manufacturer Comac, or the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, is fast becoming a competitor to Boeing and Airbus, and it's possible that Chinese travelers might choose destinations where its own country’s planes fly.
“The Chinese also have just finished building the Jakarta-to-Bandung high-speed rail line in Indonesia, and Chinese [tourists] are traveling there to experience it,” he said.
Parulis-Cook said there is no point marketing sustainability to the Chinese client.
“The Chinese have no more idea what exactly sustainability is than does any other market in the world,” she said.
She added that, as with many other inbound markets, among the most popular activities for new Chinese travelers are elephant rides and swimming with dolphins.
“A start would be to take that off your website,” she said.
To Europe
Hotels in Western markets should also stop trying to compare Chinese travel with pre-COVID-19 numbers and trends, panelists said. Another tip is to stop marketing to Chinese travelers with the same types of campaigns and outreach as European guests.
“Seventy-five percent of [outbound] flights are back, but connectivity remains a problem. Chinese airlines seem to be randomly choosing their routes, and European airlines such as Lufthansa have moved their fleets to serve U.S. markets,” Lehner-Telič said.
Bowerman said Western markets should look at hotel segmentation, booking packages and amenities.
“How do you disperse [travelers] once they fly, like we all do, to the major hubs, and how do you use Chinese social media?” he said.
Parulis-Cook said Spain is a huge draw for international Chinese travelers.
“Spain remained focused on China during the pandemic, and it did a lot of live-streaming,” she said.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia is marketing itineraries where it has direct connections from China and where its biggest travel partners have the right products and services, Aldabbagh said.
How Western hotel companies and markets reach potential Chinese customers is also a focus. The panel referenced social media and e-commerce site Xiaohongshu, or Little Red Book, a Shanghai-based initiative that has more than 100 million users. Its emphasis is international online shopping advice, and the majority of its subscribers are young women, Parulis-Cook said.
She said the site evolved into cross-border shopping and now has morphed into an “Instagram-influencer type of culture” and the No. 1 Chinese search engine for tourism. Though the site is still a guide for trip-planning, she added.
Bowerman said Chinese travel is characterized by meticulous planning, but websites such as Xiaohongshu have resulted in more relaxed itineraries as travelers require more time to do the sites’ recommendations.
The minutiae might look daunting, but markets need to do the homework, Tourism Economics’ Goodger said.
“The future is exceptionally strong to put it mildly. There is more demand coming out of China than any other market. When we economists talk about new households rising above a certain threshold, well, there are 9 million new households in India but 44 million in China,” he said.
Another staggering statistic is that still only 12% of Chinese residents travel, Wang said.
“The 21st Century is Asia’s,” Lehner-Telič said, “and to capture that, employ people who have global experience and knowledge and have experience designing their own travel itineraries.”