COTRI China Outbound Tourism Research Institute has published its forecast for next year’s total number of Chinese outbound tourism trips. Barring unforeseen circumstances, the total number of border crossings made by Chinese nationals in 2018 forecast by COTRI is 154 million, representing a 6.3% year-on-year increase when compared with the 145 million projected for 2017 – a total likely to be very close to the year’s final figure, based on current trends.
Within the total of 154 million border crossings foreseen for 2018, 68 million will end in Greater China (Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR and Taiwan), equalling a 2% year-on-year increase, while the remaining 86 million trips will be made to destinations in the rest of the world, which will represent a healthy year-on-year increase of 10%. Accordingly, this means that a total of 56% of Chinese outbound trips in 2018 will be made to destinations beyond Greater China. Given 2016 was the first year in which more Chinese outbound trips were made beyond Greater China than within it, COTRI’s forecast shows that this pattern is becoming firmly entrenched and ‘rest of the world’ destinations are still benefitting from double-digit growth in Chinese outbound arrival numbers.
On top of providing an outlook into current trends and statistics related to the Chinese outbound tourism market, the Autumn 2017 edition of the COTRI Market Report also contains a number of exclusive insights into numerous key industry themes.
Similar to previous issues, the latest report covers three ‘special topics’, namely: the global expansion of Chinese online payment services, a comparison of long-haul and short-haul Chinese outbound travellers and a section drawing heavily on COTRI’s research and analysis expertise discussing common pitfalls that should be avoided in the collection of Chinese outbound data.
Exclusive interviews with industry figures – another core feature of previous editions of the COTRI Market Report – are once again included, this time focusing on the area of Market Insights for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), a key theme of the forthcoming 2018 EU-China Tourism Year, which COTRI played an active role in the preparation of. The report also draws upon the knowledge of leading Chinese online travel agency and COTRI partner Ctrip to provide the reader with industry insights drawn from the company’s own data, available for the first time in the English language.
Finally, the latest COTRI Market Report includes a chapter dedicated to destination development in the Western Mediterranean region and island destinations, discussing the factors that have driven their rise to prominence in the Chinese outbound tourism market, relevant visa policies and future strategies for continued growth among other topics.
Tags: Autumn 2017, Chinese outbound trips, COTRI
