Travelers turn to Europe for customized holidays
CHINA’S customized travel market grew rapidly in 2017.
Some 40 percent of customized travel by Chinese tourists was for outbound travel plans, of which Europe accounted for 10 percent, according to a report by online tour operator Ctrip.com and China Outbound Tourism Research Institute.
The report was released at the first Business Summit of Ctrip Customized Travel held in the Hungarian capital of Budapest on Monday. Ctrip Customized Travel chief executive Kane Xu said: “China’s travel market is booming.”
With a year-on-year growth of 130 percent, Europe has seen increasing Chinese travelers opting for personalized travel experiences, with the main demands being for in-depth, slow paced and niched trips.
From Ctrip’s travel data, 2017 saw more than 6 million Chinese making their first entry to Europe. The top five European countries for customized travel were Britain, Italy, France, Russia and Greece. On average, customized trips to Europe lasted around 12 days.
The demand and consumption of customized travel by Chinese consumers represents a leading global market segment. It is characterized by its popularity, youthfulness and high growth rates, according to the research institute’s director Wolfgang Georg Arlt.
Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou were the top departure cities for customized travel. While they accounted for half of customized travel departures, second-tier cities such as Harbin, Wuhan, Fuzhou, Nanjing and Hangzhou all reported year-on-year growth exceeding 100 percent.
In another develoment, the number of Chinese tourists visiting South Korea rebounded last month after falling for the past year, a government report showed yesterday.
The number of Chinese travelers visiting South Korea was 428,000 in March, up 16.5 percent from February, according to the Ministry of Justice.
It marked the first time in 13 months that the figure topped 400,000. After peaking at 614,000 in February last year, Chinese tourist numbers to South Korea continued to fall. However, the number recovered this year, rising from 322,000 in January to 367,000 in February.