Chinese tourists love Britain
BRITAIN was the preferred european travel destination for customised Chinese travel, thanks in large part to attractions like the filming locations of the Harry Potter movies and Sherlock Holmes TV show.
That's according to the findings of a new wide-ranging report from the Chinese Outbound Tourism Research Institute, which looked at trends in european travel among Chinese travellers in 2017.
After Asia, which made up of the bulk of outbound Chinese travel (77%), europe was the second most-visited continent among the Chinese outbound market in 2017, accounting for 9% of total trips.
That translates to about six million Chinese visitors.
In the report, which was conducted in partnership with travel services provider Ctrip, researchers draw a distinction among independent Chinese travellers and Chinese “customised” tourists, who seek out tailor-made travel itineraries.
In the latter category, the most popular european destination was britain, which authors attribute to the variety of diversions and attractions, including "diverse natural and cultural offerings".
The top attractions on british tour itineraries include the filming locations of popular franchises, and guided tours of prestigious universities like Oxford and Cambridge.
britain is also perceived as one of the most suitable european countries for solo Chinese travellers.
After britain, the most popular destinations for customised travel were Italy, France, Russia and Greece.
For independent travellers, however, Italy tops the charts, followed by France, Germany, Russia and Switzerland.
Authors also broke down top interests and themes for european travel. They found that newlywed Chinese couples are most enamoured with Switzerland and Nordic countries like Finland and Iceland for their honeymoons, while Austria, Italy, Portugal, Greece, Spain are the most popular countries for getting married and shooting wedding photography.
France, Italy and Spain are the top three destinations for Chinese travelers looking to eat their way through europe.
The report also found that Chinese tourists spend an average of 12 days in europe and visit no more than two countries per trip. The average expenditure is US$394 (RM1,587) per person, per day. – AFP Relaxnews