Chinese travelers quick to book trips to key sites
Before the final season of Game of Thrones was broadcast, Chinese online travel agency Ctrip announced 101 tourism products related to the show’s major filming locations.
Prices range from day tours costing several hundred yuan to a 10-day trip priced at 32,446 yuan ($4,720).
Data show that inquires about these products on Ctrip last month rose by 800 percent month-on-month. The number of those booking Ctrip tours to Croatia last month was five times the figure for March.
During the Labor Day holiday at the start of this month, the number of travelers booking Ctrip tours to the key location countries for the series rose significantly compared with last year. The figure for tours to Croatia rose by 450 percent, by 300 percent for Malta, 140 percent for Iceland and 107 percent for Morocco.
Ctrip said the top 10 tourist source markets last month for the locations were Shanghai; Beijing; Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province; Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province; Shenzhen, Guangdong; Chongqing; Xi’an, capital of Shaanxi province; Qingdao, Shandong province; Guiyang, capital of Guizhou province, and Wuhan, capital of Hubei province.
Among these travelers, 54 percent were male and 46 percent female. Some 22 percent were born in the 1980s, 21 percent in the 1990s, and those born in the 1950s and 1960s accounted for 16 and 17 percent, respectively.
Some 36 percent traveled with friends or colleagues, 26 percent with partners, and 18 percent traveled alone. More than half traveled for more than 10 days and 20 percent for seven to 10 days.
Data from travel information website Qyer show that last year Spain, the United Kingdom, Morocco, Iceland and Croatia were among its top 30 most popular destinations among Chinese visitors. From 2016 to 2018, Spain, the UK, Iceland and Croatia rose in popularity with Chinese visitors, with Spain the favorite choice, but Croatia the fastest-growing market.
According to an outbound travel report of Qyer users last year, 50 percent of those who were born in the 1990s and 75 percent of those born in the 2000s would travel to a destination because of their love for a movie or TV serial filmed there.