Hotelbeds, the world´s leading bedbank, has today revealed the top international destinations for Chinese travellers during the seven day Chinese New Year holiday period that started this Monday, February 4th.
According to booking data from the Hotelbeds platform for this year’s break, Thailand is the most popular destination, with Japan and Singapore ranked second and thirdly respectively. These are followed, in descending order, by Malaysia, the United States, Indonesia, Philippines, Australia, Vietnam, and South Korea.
While Spain and Italy have this year dropped out of the top ten countries, replaced by Vietnam and South Korea, nonetheless the two remain popular with Chinese tourists and come in at eleventh and twelfth place this year.
Additionally, a trend for Chinese travellers visiting a wider range of countries continues, with Chinese travellers booking hotels through the Hotelbeds bedbank platform in 102 countries during the Chinese New Year holiday period, up from 88 last year.
China remains the number one source market in the wholesale channel for Hotelbeds in Asia Pacific and is now the 4th biggest for Hotelbeds globally, where Hotelbeds offers Chinese travel intermediaries – such as tour operators, airlines, points redemption schemes, and retail travel agents – access to over 170,000 hotels, 24,000 transfer routes and 18,000 activities, available in over 185 countries.
Sam Turner, Wholesale Sales & Sourcing Director at Hotelbeds, said, “Already Chinese travellers have become the number one travel market globally and this is only set to grow significantly as the Chinese economy grows, while more and more Chinese people seek travel experiences abroad. Overseas travel during the traditional Chinese New Year is a different form of family festive activity. Many people take advantage of a week-long holiday by booking medium-to long-haul trips to popular international destinations, including Japan, Australia, the US, Southeast Asia and Europe.
“We have worked hard for many years to adapt our hotel portfolio to reflect the preferences of Chinese travellers, whether that be by the types of accommodation they prefer or in the booking process itself, and feel that our success reflects that. On behalf of Hotelbeds, I wish our business partners and colleagues in China a very happy Chinese New Year!”
Hui-Wan Chua, APAC Regional Director for Wholesale Sales at Hotelbeds, said, “I am very satisfied that demand for Chinese outbound travel is being fulfilled by Hotelbeds’ enhanced portfolio with over 170,000 hotels globally in over 185 countries. In fact, already more than 2% of all US hotels reserved by Chinese travellers flows via our system and we’re growing rapidly still.
“Understanding Chinese cultural needs is the key to attracting Chinese tourists and we are speaking with our travel intermediary customers in China to explain to them how they will benefit from our ‘China ready’ sourcing strategy. While at the same time we keep communicating with our hotel sourcing teams worldwide to help them understand Chinese customers’ needs.”
The Chinese New Year holiday, also known as ‘Spring Festival’, is a seven-day national holiday in China that takes place from Monday February 4th to Sunday February 10th. The date of the Chinese New Year varies each year, according to China’s lunar calendar, and last year fell on February 16th.
According to the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA), a total of 6.5 million Chinese mainland tourists travelled aboard during the seven-day Chinese New Year holiday in 2018, with that figure set to increase to 7 million this year.
* All figures quoted in this press release are based on bookings made via the Hotelbeds booking platform.
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