The number of Chinese tourists travelling internationally has reached 130 million in 2017, up 7% from 122 million in 2016. An estimated 115.29 billion USD was spent during 2017, a year-on-year increase of 5%, the Hotel Association of Turkey Turob reported.
With increased options for flight connections, better exchange rate and fewer visa restrictions, emerging destinations in the MENA region such as Turkey, Morocco and Tunisia are seeing huge growth in visitor numbers, according to a Ctrip’s "2017 China Outbound Tourism Travel Report". Ctrip statistics also pointed out that Ctrip's tailor-made travel and local guide platform has served millions of tourists in 2017. Such personalized trips are becoming a popular option for Chinese travellers, the report added.
The huge growth in visitor numbers, Ctrips report added, is largely because of Chinese travellers being focused on wellbeing and choosing destinations based on the high quality services.
Based on ForwardKeys’ latest report, Europe will benefit from new routes between China and Europe with a total of nine new routes and one resumed route slated to start during the first half of 2018. Three more routes are also in the pipeline, and at least four China-Europe routes are already planned for the second half of this year, the report stated.
Europe, with a 10% market share of the outbound Chinese market, saw a 7.4% increase in Chinese travellers during the recent New Year holiday period in January and February this year, according to ForwardKeys’ findings. Turkey increased by 108.2%, while Greece’s numbers were by 55.7%, compared to the same period last year. Official data showed 200,000 Chinese tourists visited Turkey in 2017.
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