Chinese interest in foreign travel sustained

Bill Lumley

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China Outbound Travel Monitor reveals consumers in China maintain a strong interest in foreign travel in 2009

Chinese consumers continue to show strong interest in travelling outside China in 2009 despite the economic downturn, according to the latest China Outbound Travel Monitor from The Nielsen Company.
The report, conducted in January and February 2009, reveals that the majority (85%) of Chinese travellers will ‘definitely’ or ‘probably’ travel outside China within the next 12 months, either for leisure or business. It also showed that even among non-travellers, 78% expressed their desire to travel within the coming year, up 19 percentage points from 59% in 2007.

The Nielsen Company China head of travel and leisure research Grace Pan said: “Since the beginning of the global economic slowdown last year, the hottest topic is always where the next big opportunity lies. The Nielsen China Outbound Travel Monitor shows that the Chinese outbound travel market continues to boom, even under current financial pressures, and is likely to grow further.

“The interest lies not only among the experienced traveller, but also among novice travellers” she added. “Our survey reflects the strength of the industry and should be a confidence boost to the travel industry. Short-haul outbound trips are the most popular, with more than six in 10 Chinese travellers intending to take outbound trips in Asia, followed by Europe (43%), Oceania (24%) and North America (20%).”

Nearly five in 10 potential Chinese outbound travellers expressed interest in visiting Hong Kong in the next 12 months. Macau (31%) came second, with Taiwan (27%) jumping into the top three planned destinations thanks to a recent agreement that allows mainland Chinese to travel to Taiwan in groups. Since the policy was issued in July 2008, Taiwan has already become one of the top travel destinations by visitor numbers in 2008, and travel to Taiwan has increased significantly, from 3% in 2007 to 6% in 2008, becoming one of the top five destinations for 2008.