Arab Tower in Dubai Paris, Dubai and Rome have emerged as the favourite travel destinations outside Asia among Chinese tourists, the largest outbound travel market in the world. According to the number-crunching of TripAdvisor’s Chinese brand daodao .com, visits to Paris in July and August this year spiked 360 percent compared to the same period last year to become the fifth most visited destination in the top 20 list.
It’s an interesting finding in light of recent events that threatened to deter Asian tourists to the city after a group of Chinese visitors were robbed of their passports, plane tickets and cash shortly after landing in the city — a story that made headlines around the world.
After Paris, visits to Dubai — which took sixth place on the overall ranking of outbound destinations — grew 210 percent this summer, and visits to Rome (11th place) rose 180 percent.
Not surprisingly, Hong Kong emerged the top travel destination among mainlanders for its proximity, duty-free shopping, family-friendly attractions, and as a pit stop en route to other international destinations, said TripAdvisor China spokeswoman Lily Cheng.
Asian destinations Phuket, Taiwan and Bangkok follow Hong Kong, while Paris made it into fifth place on the global ranking.
After surpassing the US and Germany to become the world’s largest source market for outbound tourism by expenditures last year, tourism offices around the world have been aggressively trying to woo Chinese travelers with money to spend.
According to the China Tourism Academy, Chinese tourists are expected to take 94 million trips in 2013 and spend $117.6 billion USD.
The list also sheds valuable insight into some of the fastest-growing tourist destinations among middle class and wealthy Chinese travelers. For example, Jeju Island in South Korea, a popular honeymoon destination for Koreans, experienced a whopping 570 percent growth in visits from Chinese tourists compared to last summer.
Other destinations which have become increasingly popular among the Chinese include Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia, which saw a 550 percent growth, and Hanoi, Vietnam, which saw a spike in Chinese tourists equal to 510 percent.
But as Chinese globetrotters traverse the world, a related dialogue has been emerging in the travel and hospitality industry which was summed up in a New York Times story published last week: “Wooing, and also resenting, Chinese tourists.”
“The grievances are familiar — they gawk, they shove, they eschew local cuisine, and last year, 83 million mainland Chinese spent $102 billion abroad — overtaking Americans and Germans — making them the world’s biggest tourism spenders, according to the United Nations World Tourism Organization,\" the story reads.
“Their numbers have also placed them among the most resented tourists. Mainland Chinese tourists, often laden with cash and unfamiliar with foreign ways, are tumbling out of tour buses with apparently little appetite for hotel breakfast buffets and no concept of lining up.”
Here are the top 20 most popular outbound tourist destinations among mainland Chinese travelers in July and August this year. Percentages reflect growth rates over the same period last year.
1. Hong Kong, China (50%)
2. Phuket, Thailand (250%)
3. Taiwan (350%)
4. Bangkok, Thailand (270%)
5. Paris, France (360%)
6. Dubai, UAE (210%)
7. Macau, China (50%)
8. Seoul, South Korea (180%)
9. Singapore (170%)
10. Bali, Indonesia (310%)
11. Rome, Italy (180%)
12. Chiang Mai, Thailand (180%)
13. New York, United States (280%)
14. London, United Kingdom (120%)
15. Jeju Island, South Korea (570%)
16. Boracay, Philippines (360%)
17. Kyoto, Japan (580%)
18. Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia (550%)
19. Hanoi, Vietnam (510%)
20. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (190%)
Source: Relaxnews