Hotelbeds, the world´s leading bedbank, revealed the top international destinations for Chinese travellers during the seven day Chinese New Year holiday period starting on Monday, February 4th.
According to booking data from the Hotelbeds platform for this year’s break, Thailand is the most popular destination, with Japan and Singapore ranked second and thirdly respectively. These are followed, in descending order, by Malaysia, the United States, Indonesia, Philippines, Australia, Vietnam, and South Korea.
Whilst Spain and Italy have this year dropped out of the top ten countries, replaced by Vietnam and South Korea, nonetheless the two remain popular with Chinese tourists and come in at eleventh and twelfth place this year.
Additionally, a trend for Chinese travelers visiting a wider range of countries continues, with Chinese travelers booking hotels through the Hotelbeds bedbank platform in 102 countries during the Chinese New Year holiday period, up from 88 last year.
China remains the number one source market in the wholesale channel for Hotelbeds in Asia Pacific and is now the 4th biggest for Hotelbeds globally, where Hotelbeds offers Chinese travel intermediaries – such as tour operators, airlines, points redemption schemes, and retail travel agents – access to over 170,000 hotels, 24,000 transfer routes and 18,000 activities, available in over 185 countries.
Sam Turner, Wholesale Sales & Sourcing Director at Hotelbeds, said, “Already Chinese travelers have become the number one travel market globally and this is only set to grow significantly as the Chinese economy grows, whilst more and more Chinese people seek travel experiences abroad. Overseas travel during the traditional Chinese New Year is a different form of family festive activity. Many people take advantage of a week-long holiday by booking medium-to long-haul trips to popular international destinations, including Japan, Australia, the US, Southeast Asia and Europe.”
Hui-Wan Chua, APAC Regional Director for Wholesale Sales at Hotelbeds, said, “I am very satisfied that demand for Chinese outbound travel is being fulfilled by Hotelbeds’ enhanced portfolio with over 170,000 hotels globally in over 185 countries. In fact, already more than 2% of all US hotels reserved by Chinese travelers flows via our system and we’re growing rapidly still.”
According to the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA), a total of 6.5 million Chinese mainland tourists travelled aboard during the seven-day Chinese New Year holiday in 2018, with that figure set to increase to 7 million this year.
