TripAdvisor®, the world’s largest travel site, today released a list of the top 20 most popular destinations for outbound mainland Chinese travellers.
Australia’s diverse tourism offering continues to be a huge draw for Chinese travellers looking for a combination of cultural, natural and laid back experiences, with the country ranking 17th amongst the most popular destinations for outbound Chinese travellers.
While short haul destinations within the Asia Pacific region continue to draw tens of millions of mainland tourists a year, increasingly discerning Chinese travellers are looking at far-flung holiday destinations in Australia, North America and Europe, driven by their desire to broaden their worldview. According to a recent TripAdvisor TripBarometer study on the psychology of travel, ‘enhancing perspective’ is the primary motivation for holiday choices for 65 percent of Chinese travellers.
Based on total page views recorded between September 2013 to September 2014 on daodao.com, TripAdvisor’s official website in China, the top 20 most popular destinations for outbound Chinese travellers are as follows:
- Hong Kong
- United States
- Thailand
- Taiwan
- Japan
- South Korea
- France
- Italy
- Indonesia
- Malaysia
- United Kingdom
- Spain
- Macau
- Singapore
- United Arab Emirates
- Germany
- Australia
- Canada
- The Netherlands
- Vietnam
While Sydney and Melbourne take first and second place as the most popular Australian destinations for outbound Chinese travellers (in terms of total page views from September 2013 to September 2014), destinations in Queensland are fast becoming popular spots for Chinese tourists with Airlie Beach, Gold Coast and Cairns ranking amongst the top five.
In looking at the most popular Australian attractions, the preferences of Chinese travellers can be grouped into four types – those seeking culture, the great outdoors, shopping and entertainment as well as family-friendly activities.
While Australia’s diverse natural environment attracted nearly one-third of the page views of Chinese travellers planning and researching their Australian trips on daodao.com in the past year, it is the country’s unique cultural heritage that drew the most attention, with nearly 40 percent of page views from Chinese travellers researching Australian cultural attractions on the site.
According to data from daodao.com, 52 percent of Chinese travellers researching Australian accommodations on the site (in terms of total page views in September 2014) were looking at hotels compared to only 10 percent who were researching bed and breakfasts. However, 86 percent of users on daodao.com were researching independent properties while only 14 percent of them were looking at branded properties.
Highlighting their discerning travel preferences, 55 percent of Chinese travellers researching Australian accommodations (in terms of total page views in September 2014) were looking at accommodations that have a hotel rating of four stars or above.
According to a joint study by TripAdvisor and Boston Consulting Group Report titled, “Winning the Next Billion Asian Travellers – Starting with China,” 1 by 2030, more than 50 percent of the growth in global traffic will come from Asia Pacific, and travellers from China will account for around 40 percent of Asian outbound travellers. Chinese urban travellers will take 1.7 billion domestic and outbound trips annually, up from 500 million today, spending $1.8 trillion on travel and tourism—nearly seven times their current expenditures, by 2030. The economic opportunity for the travel industry is significant with spend from Chinese outbound tourism increasing by 15 precent year-on-year between now and 2030.
Lily Cheng, President, APAC, TripAdvisor said, “China’s fast-growing outbound travel market represents vast, untapped opportunities for global tourism service providers.
“The market is not only growing rapidly but consumer behaviour is also quickly evolving with mobile technology and the desire for independent travel. Businesses must develop a keen understanding of Chinese travellers as customers in order to win their patronage and loyalty.”
Lily Cheng
“A recent TripAdvisor TripBarometer study revealed that Australia is a highly aspirational destination for Chinese travellers. For Australian businesses hoping to attract Chinese travellers, a strong, tailored strategy will help them to be aligned with this audience’s evolving expectations. Those businesses that are willing to adapt and be proactive in fulfilling their needs will stand a greater chance at winning their loyalty,” she adds.
In China, TripAdvisor operates a highly customised version of its site, designed specifically for Chinese travellers under daodao.com. From September 2013 to September 2014, millions of unique visitors from China came to daodao.com to research outbound destinations, representing a year-on-year increase of 16 percent.