92% of Chinese travelers to increase spending despite economic slowdown

The fifth annual Chinese International Travel Monitor released by Hotels.com®, has revealed ninety-two percent of Chinese travelers plan to increase or maintain spending and one-third of them plan to spend more on travel in the coming year - despite the slowing economy.

China continues to be the top global spender in terms of tourism expenditure, and the potential for growth with the market is enormous with only 5 percent of the nearly 1.4 billion Chinese citizens currently holding passports1.

Some 120 million Chinese traveled overseas in 2015, up from 117 million in 20142, the year when the milestone of 100 million was first passed.  This year's report shows two-thirds of outbound Chinese travelers consider travel to be an essential part of life – and are prepared to spend nearly a quarter of their income on travel, providing operators with enormous growth opportunity.

According to the hotelier survey, the top changes to Chinese travelers were improved English, travelers increasingly looking for value for money, higher expectations, more demanding requirements and spending less. Fifty one percent of hoteliers in the U.S. experienced an increase of Chinese guests traveling for leisure.

Top 5 Common Requests from Chinese guests to U.S. hoteliers:

• Free Wi-Fi – 75%
• Smoking room – 20%
• Chinese tea – 17%
• Kettle – 16%
• Translated tourism/travel guides – 13%

Hoteliers considered tourism marketing campaigns, emerging technology like mobile booking and exchange rates as the top three travel trends to have the biggest impact on the U.S. hotel business within the next few years.

Chinese millennials spent 27 percent of their income on travel, according to survey data - the highest proportion of all Chinese travelers.  The hoteliers' survey shows that the number of Chinese millennial guests (aged under 35) increased 36 percent in the U.S.

In 2015, Chinese travelers paid the most visiting these U.S. cities – Honolulu, New York, Boston, San Francisco, Miami and Seattle. Internationally they paid the most in London, Dubai and Milan.  

According to the Hotels.com China website, most popular cities for Chinese travelers included New York, Las Vegas and Los Angeles. The Grand Canyon tops the list of landmarks to visit in a lifetime along with The Pyramids of Giza in Egypt and Mount Fuji in Japan.

The survey used Ipsos, a world leader in market research, which in May 2016 surveyed 3,000 Chinese travelers. To complement this data with opinions of hoteliers, Hotels.com carried out a global survey of 5,800 accommodation partners.

Figures on spending, including prices paid for hotel rooms, are quoted in Chinese Renminbi (RMB) and their US dollar equivalent wherever possible. Unless otherwise indicated, the RMB–US$ exchange rate used in this survey is US$1= RMB6.5386, the rate on May 18 2016, the mid-point of the field research. 

About the research

The Hotels.com Chinese International Travel Monitor (CITM) analyses research taken directly from both Chinese international travelers and hoteliers worldwide, combined with Hotels.com own proprietary data and other research.

For the travelers' survey, Hotels.com used Ipsos, a world leader in market research, which in May 2016 conducted interviews with 3,000 Chinese residents, aged 18–54 years, who had travelled overseas in the past 12 months. A Computer-assisted Web Interviewing technology was used. The representative sample consisted of men and women from a number of cities in all tiers.

The travelers were asked about travel behavior, booking methods, accommodation choices and many other aspects of their travel.

To complement this with the opinion of hoteliers, Hotels.com carried out a global survey of more than 5,800 Hotels.com hotel partners, also during May 2016. The 37 participating countries were Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, the UK, the USA and Vietnam.

About Hotels.com

Hotels.com L.P. operates Hotels.com, a leading online accommodation booking website with properties ranging from international chains and all-inclusive resorts to local favorites and bed & breakfasts, together with all the information needed to book the perfect stay. Special apps for mobile phones and tablets can also be downloaded enabling customers to book on the go with access to 20,000 last minute deals.

Join the conversation surrounding the Chinese International Travel Monitor at @hotelsdotcom using #CITM.

Read more here.

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