Revealed: The World’s Biggest Travel Spenders Are…

The Chinese. A great bunch of lads, and tourists we should show a very warm welcome to if these figures are anything to go by. 

China has overtaken Germany and the USA as the world’s biggest spenders on travel, with Chinese travellers spending US$102 billion on international travel in 2012, an increase of over 40% on 2011. 

The second annual Chinese International Travel Monitor, released today by Hotels.com, reveals significant insights into the changing behaviours of Chinese travellers and how the global hotel industry is adapting.

Surveying more than 3,000 Chinese international travellers and more than 1,500 hoteliers around the world, the report found 75 per cent of hoteliers globally say Chinese travellers now account for up to five per cent of their business and 45 per cent say they have experienced an increase in Chinese guests over the last year. Hoteliers see China as a positive growth market over the next three years with one in 10 expecting to see an increase of more than 50 per cent and almost half (47 per cent) anticipating an 11-50 per cent rise.

The Chinese now spend more money on overseas travel than any other nationality

According to the report the majority of overseas Chinese travel (96 per cent) has been for leisure purposes, while just over half (52 per cent) have also visited other countries for business or education.

In a growing trend, nearly two thirds (62 per cent) of Chinese travellers say they prefer to travel independently and not as part of a group. This development has been confirmed by the hoteliers surveyed, who say 70 per cent of Chinese guests now travel independently, compared with a much more even split in 2012. 

Johan Svanstrom, Managing Director of Hotels.com Asia Pacific, said, “The 2013 Chinese International Travel Monitor (CITM) shows the move to independent travel identified in the CITM last year is now preferred by the majority of Chinese travellers. While in-roads have been made in this area, governments will have to take this into account when organising their visa application infrastructure and processes, such as the Visa waiver programme extension as announced by An Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, in March.”

In addition, the CITM highlights areas for continued improvement for accommodation providers. The ability to accept Chinese payment methods is seen as the single most important offering from hotels and over a quarter (26 per cent) of Chinese travellers feel this is a key area for improvement.

Three quarters (75 per cent) of Chinese travellers say hoteliers need to improve the provision of translated items, such as welcome literature, websites, TV programmes and newspapers, while almost half (42 per cent) say that they would like more Mandarin speaking staff in hotels.

Highlighting a disconnect between the desires of Chinese travellers and provisions made by hoteliers, a quarter (25 per cent) of hoteliers say they offer cultural awareness training to staff but only one in ten (11 per cent) offer welcome materials in Mandarin.