18 October 2011, London & Mclean, Va. – Chinese outbound tourists visiting Europe is expected to grow to 4.5 million by 2015 and around 8.6 million by 2020, giving the European travel industry potential income of more than €2 billion based on an average €234 per night. These numbers are outlined in a new Hilton Hotels and Resorts commissioned report written by University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS).
‘How the Rise of Chinese Tourism will Change the Face of the European Travel Industry” identifies current advantages and disadvantages of Europe for Chinese outbound travel and tourism (COT COTT has generated an estimated 3 million visitor trips to Europe in 2010 with the largest number of Chinese travellers visiting Italy, France and Germany.
First time Chinese tourists are choosing to travel independently, rather than with traditional tour groups. Second- and Third-time travellers who feel comfortable travelling alone or in small groups of families or friends, are further fuelling this trend. They enoy the freedom to select itineraries that cater to their individual interests instead of feeling bound by tour group schedules.
This shift in travel behanviours has major implications for the way in which the tourism industry will need to market to outbound Chinese tourists. This base has a very high internet penetration rate of 36.2% nationally. Internet usage is more than double this in the larger cities. More than 318 million access the Internet regularly and the average internet user spends 18.7 hours per week online.
Chinese travellers search online for information about destinations, hotels, and transport offerings before departing. More information is more likely to be gathered from social media rather than official company websites. Online video sharing sites that offer videos of tourist destinations and traveller-generated blogs and microblogs are very popular and influential in the decision making process for Chinese travellers.
Demand for bespoke packages catering to Chinese tastes such as whisky tasting tours in Scotland and vineyard tours in France, Italy, the UK and Germany could possibly be high.
Earlier this year, Hilton introduced Hilton Huanying, a programme taking its name from the Chinese word Welcome. Participating hotels provide Chinese speaking staff, traditional Chinese breakfast items and a range of in-room amenities including slippers, a welcome letter in Chinese, Chinese television prorgamming, and Chinese Tea.
“We are living in exciting times for the UK tourism industry with new markets opening up and brilliant opportunities arising to promote the country to them. Chinese visitors in particular will play an especially important part in growing our industry. So I commend initiatives like Hilton Huanying and the research commissioned by Hilton Hotels and Resorts from the School of Oriental and African Studies – the more we understand what our new customers want and expect, the better able we will be to offer them a warm welcome and a rewarding experience when they come to UK,” said the British Tourism Minister John Penrose.
Some of the report findings:
- The UK is not part of the Schengen agreement and therefore visa applications are more difficult. Additionaly the UK has not embraced payments from China Union Pay (except for Harrods and Selfridges)
- Within China, visiting multiple countries on a trip is held in high regard. It takes more time to reach the UK compared to travelling between multiple countries in mainland Europe during a single trip.
European Travel Industry Improvements to reach out to in-bound Chinese travellers:
- Be vigorous about customer service – a big part in the Chinese visitor experience
- Improve services and amenities tailored for Chinese guests, such as translating websites and signage into Chinese and employing fluent Mandarin speakers
- Embrace social media and implementing marketing strategies that attract Chinese travellers and increase brand awareness. There is a growing trend for more individual travellers who need to be targetted directly rather than through tour operators
How does the rise of Chinese tourism change the face of the European Travel Industry?
- Growth rates in Chinese tourists increasing, perhaps by 50% or more, generating a huge increase in revenue
- The financial benefits of Chinese tourism being spread much more broadly in the tourism industries and related retail sectors than at present
- More niche markets (such as golfing holidays, whisky tours, fashion or shopping trips) developing across Europe catering to Chinese tastes and interests, but also with the potential to attract more tourists from other countries
- A transformation of marketing strategies and the appropriation of new media opportunities
- Chinese language becoming a norm within the realm of tourist information provision alongside Japanese, Arabic and other European languages
- Key players in the European tourist industries developing deeper-rooted engagements and co-operation with Chinese players
- A fuller, more nuanced understanding of the cultureal and social backgrounds of Chinese tourists, as well as the operational aspects and latest trends and developments in Chinese tourism being seen as fundamental across the sector.
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