China is by far the country whose nationals traditionally spend the most abroad when traveling. Five years ago, while tourists from France, England and Germany spent 41, 64, and 81 billion dollars respectively on leisure activities abroad, the Chinese spent 261 billion dollars. Statistics indicate that the average expenditure of the citizens of the Asian giant was double, before the pandemic. Today many countries plan to develop a strategy to attract and promote this important source of income.
Once the restrictions to move to other cities have been overcome, China has begun to turn on the engines of domestic travel. An analysis shows that in 2022, 60 million Chinese citizens will travel to the streets and shops of the great world capitals.
The Chinese tourism market is a dominant force within the patterns of world tourism and its growth potential is immense. If in 2018 149 million citizens left the country and in 2019 220 million did so, experts already believe that this volume will be able to return very soon. The main beneficiary countries will be its neighbors - South Korea, Taiwan, Japan and Thailand: since most of those who pick up their suitcases stay in Asia but their preferences are rapidly evolving towards other latitudes.
Their behavior patterns differ greatly from travelers from other countries. The inclination of these tourists to purchase is well known, in addition to this and to gain their attention, it is good to know that the vast majority of travelers come from the middle class, that they travel through travel agencies, that their average age is 34 years and that most of the time they travel in groups. When it comes to putting their hands in their pockets, these citizens do so mainly to bring back to their country objects acquired at the points of destination.
Achieving a constant and regular flow of Chinese visitors has become a priority for countries that attract their attention, since the contribution to local industry and commerce that this human flow represents and the knock-on effects that are achieved through interaction with these visitors. Even more so when considering that the average value of tourist spending on purchases by Chinese tourists exceeds 4,000 dollars per trip and traveler in Europe and 5,000 in the United States. China's internal figures estimate that 16% of middle-class household income goes to domestic or foreign leisure travel. So, placing one’s destination on the map of Chinese preferences when traveling has become imperative for many countries.
