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1. Introduction
Although it has a short history, Chinese outbound tourism has been
developing quickly. The outbound tourist numbers and total expenditure have
been increasing strongly and consistently in last decade or so (Figure 1). In
2011, the total number of Chinese outbound tourists reached over 70 million
(Caixin, 2012). China is now already the third largest source market (UNWTO,
2012).
Figure 1: Chinese outbound tourist number (1995-2011)
80.00
70.00
60.00
50.00
40.00
30.00
20.00
10.00
19
95
19
96
19
97
19
98
19
99
20
00
20
01
20
02
20
03
20
04
20
05
20
06
20
07
20
08
20
09
20
10
20
11
0.00
Source: Annual Reports of China National Tourism Administration (CNTA); Caixin (2012).
than tourists on official and business travel (i.e. 54% vs. 46%). In 2010, this
category of outbound tourists reached about 90% of total Chinese outbound
tourists (i.e. 51.51 million out of 57.39 million) (Figure 2).
Figure 2: Chinese outbound tourists for public business and private purposes
70000
All outbound tourists
60000
50000
40000
30000
20000
10000
0
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
spent US$55 billion overseas, which made China the fourth largest country on
the outbound tourist expenditure table (Caixin, 2012).
According to Nielsen (2007) (Table 1), the average Chinese outbound
tourist actually spent US$2,923 per trip in 2007. European countries attracted
the largest expenditure for an average Chinese tourist. This was followed by
Oceania destinations such as Australia and Northern American countries.
Hong Kong and Macao attracted the highest spending by short-haul travellers,
this being attributable to purchases of prestige brand goods and entertainment
events. If considering only the direct expenditure on local purchases in
destination countries (exclusive of pre-paid cost to travel agents or
accommodation and air-tickets bookings), Chinese tourists spent US$1,878 on
average, but this varied significantly between different destinations.
Table 1: Expenditure of Chinese outbound tourists
Tourism
destinations
Total
expenditure
Pre-paid
expenditure
Expenditure
in
destinations
All
destinations
Hong
Kong
and
Macao
Asia other
than Hong
Kong and
Macao
Europe
Oceania
North
America
Africa/
Latin
America
2923
2185
1904
5253
4978
3786
2991
1045
459
821
2109
2369
1475
1828
1878
1726
1083
3144
2609
2311
1163
The survey data suggested that long-haul tourists spent more money than
short-haul travellers on pre-paid packages, this being mainly because of the
higher international transportation cost. Their average local spending
(expenditure in destinations) was also much higher than that of short-haul
travellers, although some of these travellers to Hong Kong and Macao also
spent heavily on local purchases, presumably on prestige goods.
Increasingly high average expenditure and total outbound tourism
expenditure scale seem not to correlate to the actual GDP growth in China. In
2011, per capita GDP in China was 8,442 International Dollars, ranking it only
94th in the world in 2011 (World Bank, 2012). Cultural factors are important in
explaining travellers surprisingly high per capita spending. Currently, Chinese
outbound tourism has an aspect that leads to an unconscious or conspicuous
consumptionism. This is strongly associated with some traditional Chinese
cultural features, such as familys reputation-based and face. The objective
of such consumption is beyond normal tangible demands, being an intangible
psychological and/or socio-cultural phenomenon, such as a public
demonstration of their and their families social and economic status. Under
these circumstances, these tourists do consider the price but are not as pricesensitive as they are at home. This phenomenon also fits a Chinese saying:
qiong jia fu lu (which means that even if you are poor at home you should
bring as much money as possible and behave like rich person when you are on
the way).
Year
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
Hong
Kong
Macao
1
2
Destination Rank
Thailand
3
Japan
4
5
Russia
Korea
USA
7
Singapore
8
Viet nam
9
10
Taiwan
Malaysia
Interestingly, since 2001, the USA has been listed one of the top 10
destination countries (usually ranked 7th or 8th), although the USA only became
an ADS country for Chinese outbound tourists in 2008. This suggests that
visitors travelling to the USA have mainly non-leisure purposes, such as
business and education, which corresponds with another cultural feature of
Chinese outbound tourism: travelling for learning. This also implies to some
extent that Chinese outbound tourists will undertake long-haul travel as long as
the destinations are attractive enough and the markets are relatively easy to
access by Chinese tourists.
In reality there is a clear willingness for Chinese tourists to undertake longhaul travels. According to a recent tourist survey (Nielsen, 2009a), while shorthaul trips are still popular with more than six in ten Chinese travellers intending
to take outbound trips in Asia, long-haul trips are increasingly seriously
considered/planned by Chinese outbound tourists. It can be expected that
more long-haul travel destinations, such as France, Australia, UK and
Germany, which already have got an advantage (Figure 4), will come into the
Top 10 Destinations for Chinese Tourists, in the near future.
Figure 4: Proportion of Chinese outbound tourists planned their next
outbound travels to different countries (Data source: Nielsen, 2009a)
45%
45%
40%
35%
31%
27%
30%
25%
19%
20%
19%
18%
18%
16%
15%
USA
UK
15%
13%
13%
Korea
Germany
10%
5%
0%
Hong
Kong
Macao
Taiwan
Japan
France
Singapore Australia
4. Discussion
4.1 Are Chinese travellers shoppers or tourists?
Chinese tourists would like to take a greater part in local activities and
events but have some critical barriers, such as time constraints, language
difficulty and cultural incomprehension. Importantly they have difficulty in
establishing direct linkages between such lifestyles and their own. They would
like to learn (travel for learning) but they do not want to take any risks (travel
in a safe way). So they intentionally choose another form of experience that
has much lower risk. Shopping could be such an experience. They shop every
day in their own home cities and are confident in this money-for-goods
exercise. On one hand, they see shopping as a good way to communicate with
locals and to understand local lifestyle and other economic and socio-cultural
aspects. On the other hand, they would expect to obtain recognition for the
5. Conclusions
As Chinas economy grows, the demand for consumer products and
services will also grow. However, if international tourism businesses wish to
enter this market, understanding Chinese cultural values and how the Chinese
shape their preferences and expectations is a first step in deciding on the type
of marketing and product mix to develop.
Tourism or travel has existed in China for thousands of years. However,
unlike modern western tourism, traditionally it has been considered as either a
luxury activity mainly belonging to the elite class, or an internal exercise
embodying non-leisure purposes.
Traditional culture contributes to the formation of Chinese tourism
philosophy, which determines and influences outbound tourists attitudes and
behaviours. The culture-based features of Chinese outbound tourism, such as
conspicuous consumption and travelling for learning but not travelling for
leisure significantly influence tourist behaviours. It should also be realised that
the Chinese tourist market will eventually evolve towards more normal
patters. It is important for destination countries to understand these features
and deal with them accordingly. While there is a short term marketing approach
to target immediate demands from Chinese market, it is critical to have a longterm marketing strategy to respond to changing Characteristics of Chinese
tourists and to secure a sustainable Chinese tourist flow in the future.
6. References
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23. Yang, F. and Zhang, Y. (2010). A Study on Feasibility and
Countermeasures of Urban Women's Outbound Travel Market
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Chinese.)
24. Yang, R. (2011). The influence of Chinese traditional culture values
upon tourist shopping decision-making stylesA case study of
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25. Yougo (2011). Brief: Quarterly analyses report on Chinese tourism
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through
the
Internet:
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[accessed
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