New Consumption Boosts Tourism
Shifting spending patterns is redefining China’s travel industry
The tourism industry may be the best indicator of the latest consumption trends in China. The data showing how people spent the New Year’s Day holiday demonstrate that consumption patterns in the country have changed, and in the coming year even more profound changes will take place in the industrial structure of tourism, which will in turn bring integration, innovation and reorganization to the industry.
Vibrant growth
Figures from the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) show that the three- day 2018 New Year’s Day holiday saw 133 million domestic tourists make trips inside the country, earning revenues of 75.5 billion yuan ($11.63 billion), up by 11.08 percent and 11.22 percent, respectively, year on year.
In fact, in the first half of 2017 alone, Chinese tourists made 2.54 billion domestic trips to the tune of 2.17 trillion yuan ($334.36 billion), and while the figures for the whole year have not yet been released, based on current statistics the number of domestic trips looks sure to surpass 5 billion.
The effervescent growth of the tourism industry is also having a knock on effect elsewhere, boosting associated sec- tors such as transportation, hospitality and catering.
According to a report jointly released by the China Tourism Academy and Mafengwo. cn, a tourist information-sharing website, China has entered an era of “fragmented traveling,” and as the generation born in the 1990s becomes a major force for consumption, the supply chain of the tourism industry is being upgraded, with more transactions conducted through mobile terminals, demand for travel becoming more individualized and more specific products being targeted.
These changes in travel demand have