When it comes to business or the economy, the Chinese are everywhere,⁽²⁾ and it is becoming increasingly true with regards to tourism and travel as well. Over the past decade outbound tourism flows from China have skyrocketed at a compounded annual rate of approximately 18.5%.⁽³⁾ Data from the National Bureau of Statistics of China indicates that outbound travel has increased from roughly 10.5 million people in 2000 to 70 million people in 2011,⁽⁴⁾ while figures from 2012 are already projected to reach as many as 80 million.⁽⁵⁾ Additionally, per capita spending among Chinese tourists also remains among the highest in the world, with each spending around US$ 1,000 per trip, amounting to nearly US$ 100 billion annually.⁽⁶⁾ As such, the Chinese market represents the third largest travel market worldwide, followed only narrowly by the United States (US) and Germany. Much, however, is expected of this growing nation, with Secretary-General of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), Taleb Rifa,i recently claiming “we can expect to see China become the number one country in terms of both receiving and sending tourists in the next five to seven years.”⁽⁷⁾ Not surprisingly, the increases in outbound Chinese tourism can largely be attributed to the resilience of the Chinese economy, contrasting to the continuing uncertainty in Europe and the US.⁽⁸⁾

The continued growth of the Chinese economy, and as a result, the development of a relatively well-off middle class with greater purchasing power, has produced a class of Chinese tourists that are seeking greater experiences. Salaries are gradually increasing and as people have greater disposable income, their desire and ability to travel abroad increases. In fact, the 2011 World Wealth Report from Capgemini and Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management commented that the Asia Pacific region is now home to more wealthy people than all of Europe.⁽⁹⁾ Further, the rapid expansion of low-cost airlines and air service providers has played a significant role in increasing travel within, and beyond Asia in recent years. In fact, budget airlines with an operational base in Asia now serve more than 150 destinations across the continent, while Gulf-based carriers are constantly opening new routes to Asia, and more Asian air service providers are joining global airline alliances, thus creating new connections.⁽¹⁰⁾ This is important given that the progressive growth of outbound tourism from China represents a significant resource that can have a substantial future impact on the infrastructure and economic vitality of a number of international destinations.

Patterns of outbound Chinese tourism

Despite the rapid growth of outbound Chinese tourism throughout the last decade, the history of Chinese tourism is relatively short. For the most part, Chinese travel in the early 1990s was limited to the Special Administrative Regions (SAR) of Hong Kong and Macau for business purposes, and for visiting relatives.⁽¹¹⁾ For example, only 2.93 million Chinese travellers went abroad in 1992.⁽¹²⁾ Of course, much of the outbound Chinese tourism today remains limited to local and regional destinations, with the majority being directed towards the SAR’s of Hong Kong and Macau, Taiwan (especially after travel restrictions were lifted in 2006), South Korea, Japan, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Singapore, the Philippines, and Thailand. However, these destinations were not uncommon among international outbound tourism trends. According to a report by the UNWTO, the large majority of international travel takes place within one’s own region, with approximately four out of five worldwide arrivals originating from the same region.⁽¹³⁾ These trends are most often explained by the cost and relative accessibility of local or regional destinations in comparison to more far-reaching destinations. For Chinese travellers, more specifically, regional destinations have also remained most popular as they represent destinations that are ‘China ready’ – destinations where Chinese travellers are well accommodated. In other words, travel services are offered in Mandarin, particular Asian amenities are available (water boilers for noodles, slippers), and activities or itineraries are designed to best fit the interests of the common Chinese traveller.

Yet the average Chinese tourist is undergoing a number of rapid changes in light of the country’s continued economic resilience, and the ‘new’ Chinese tourists are young, well-off, and hi-tech.⁽¹⁴⁾ As a result, Europe, North America, and to some extent, Africa, have emerged as hot destinations for this new brand of tourists. Even Jens Thraenhart, President of Beijing-based tourism and digital marketing company Dragon Trail, remarks that “Chinese tourists are going beyond Hong Kong and Macau now.”⁽¹⁵⁾ In addition, the primary motivations for travel are shifting. Travel is no longer restricted to business endeavours or visiting relatives. Rather, Chinese travellers are engaging in more experience-based activities — anything from scuba diving in Hawaii to safaris in Africa.⁽¹⁶⁾ In fact, the affluent middle and upper classes are “showing off” their increased purchasing power in the major tourism destinations.⁽¹⁷⁾ Further, individual travel experiences are becoming more desirable than tour groups, especially as the quality of travel is increasing. Affluent Chinese consumers are on average 20 years younger compared to their American and European counterparts, and generally tend to be interested in individual experiences and are big shoppers, especially of well-known Western brands.⁽¹⁸⁾ As such, there is evidence to suggest that a leisurely, high quality holiday, which is more individually oriented, is becoming the norm. This is in particular contrast to more traditional Chinese holiday tours that would typically include 8 European countries in 10 days.⁽¹⁹⁾

Outbound Chinese tourism then, is moving towards an experience-based choice model as opposed to a price-based choice model, which will have broad implications for the industry. In effect, these shifting patterns and new demands have prompted a number of key changes in the industry standard. For example, Asia’s more sophisticated urban lifestyle will create a demand for more specialised products, such as “heritage and culture, ‘edutainment’ theme parks, soft adventure, luxury holidays and sports tourism.”⁽²⁰⁾ Opportunities in the marketing and service delivery sector will also see a substantial increase because the current travel services are not sufficient for the Chinese demand. As the wealth of Chinese citizens continues to increase, so will their propensity for travel. As a result, they will be demanding particular standards in order to meet their unique needs, and in essence, challenge the assumption that “Western” tourist behaviour is the industry norm.⁽²¹⁾

Why tourism is important

The question remains however: how important is it if for a country to have a tourism sector? A number of countries strive to invest in, and thus increase, their tourism sectors because there are a number of profound benefits associated with the sector. One of the reasons for this effort is because foreign visitors are seen as an exports while their spending spreads rapidly through economy stimulating infrastructure, construction, agriculture, communications and human resource skills.⁽²²⁾ In addition, large flows of inbound tourism will contribute to local economic development, create jobs in a number of industries, increase overall wealth, facilitate greater social and cultural awareness, and ultimately promote further investment. While there are some negatives associated with tourism, the advantages are significant. This is especially true for developing economies, which benefit from the growth and creation of new industries. A basic example of such is how a small country like Rwanda managed to turn 200 mountain gorillas into a US$ 200 million a year industry.⁽²³⁾ In turn, gorilla tourism has helped improve roads, schools and infrastructure in the Virunga region, as well as successfully conserving the gorilla’s natural habitat.⁽²⁴⁾

Implications for Africa

In comparison to other major destinations worldwide, inbound tourism to the African continent remains quite low.⁽²⁵⁾ Poor socio-economic conditions, lack of infrastructure, political instability, violent conflict and other issues of security have all amounted to a significantly underdeveloped African travel market. African destinations only control about 4% of the international travel market, but the sector has been growing at a respectable rate of approximately 8% ⁽²⁶⁾ annually.⁽²⁷⁾ There is no doubt that the African market, broadly speaking, has great potential to develop itself into a top travel destination. As international travel continues to increase, and with China emerging as one of the largest markets, there are important implications for Africa. One of the great unexplored upsides of the significant Chinese trade investment on the continent is that business and leisure travel will be an integral part of the growth and development.⁽²⁸⁾ It must however be remembered that tourism is created and does not just happen. In order to place Africa in a position to assume the rewards of international tourism, it will need coordinated investment in service training and quality, hotels, resorts, holiday tours, physical and digital infrastructure, air-service carriers, security, nightlife and entertainment, and adventure tourism.

As business relations between China and Africa continue to develop, it is logical to assume that African destinations will become more popular among Chinese travellers. In this regard, there is a great opportunity for African states to capitalise on the increased traffic, as well as the increased purchasing power of affluent middle and upper classes. This is especially true if African governments and the private sector undertake initiatives to understand the trends of China’s vast and expanding travel market, and effectively respond by implementing particular standards to make destinations ‘China ready’, introducing effective marketing strategies that appeal to, and penetrate the Chinese market.

One of the most important aspects of the new Chinese tourists is that they are digital natives, who make extensive use of the Internet, mobile applications, and social media.⁽²⁹⁾ As such, online media is not only a valuable information resource, but also a practical tool for planning and booking holiday tours, flights, and accommodation. Further, social media is being used increasingly as an effective outlet of interaction, where Chinese travellers can communicate their experiences. Although travel agents remain the primary booking channels for Chinese tourism,⁽³⁰⁾ online media has become one of the most influential information and communications channels in China, with close to 500 million Internet users in October 2011. At a penetration of just over 35%, the Internet in China is therefore described as being different, complex, very active, and fast growing.⁽³¹⁾ Thus, in order to effectively penetrate the Chinese market, African governments and the private sector need to focus on social media marketing campaigns while also developing increased web accessibility. Industry experts have noted the use of Chinese-language websites, which should be developed with specific market-relevant content and hosted in China to respond to censorship issues, thereby allowing consumers to interact online.⁽³²⁾

Already however, there have been a number of cooperative initiatives introduced by African governments aimed at strengthening relations with China by broadening the scope of outbound Chinese tourism to include African destinations. For example, the recently founded China to Africa (CTA) project by Gambia, Tanzania and Cameroon, is designed to increase Chinese travel to these regions and throughout Africa for business and leisure.⁽³³⁾ Further, with a diversity of experiences available for tourists to enjoy, South Africa’s tourism bureau sees the potential in the Asian market, and already focuses marketing activities on China.⁽³⁴⁾ Thus, with ever-expanding business relations and continued effort and attention directed towards marketing, African destinations can expect to capitalise on increases in Chinese tourism and consumerism, in much the same way European and North American destinations have.

Written by Kyle Brown ⁽¹⁾

NOTES:

(1) Contact Kyle Brown through Consultancy Africa Intelligence’s Asia Dimension Unit (asia.dimension@consultancyafrica.com).
(2) Simpkins, J., ‘The heart of darkness: What’s really behind Asian investment in Africa’, Money Morning, 18 April 2008, http://www.moneymorning.com.
(3) Voellm, D., ‘The 21st century game-changer up close: China outbound tourism’, HVS, 5 April 2011, http://www.hvs.com.
(4) National Bureau of Statistics China, http://www.stats.gov.cn.
(5) ‘Chinas outbound travel boom shows no signs of slowing’, Jing Online, 16 July 2012, http://www.jingdaily.com; ‘China Tourism Academy showed 70 million Chinese tourists outbound in 2011’, World Travel Online, 14 February 2012, http://www.travel168.net.
(6) ‘China’s outbound travel boom shows no signs of slowing’, Jing Online, 16 July 2012, http://www.jingdaily.com; The National Bureau of Statistics of China, among other sources cites this figure at US$ 69 billion.
(7) ‘Blue book of China’s tourism economy (no.4)’, China Tourism Academy, 30 March 2012, http://eng.ctaweb.org.
(8) ‘ITB World travel trends report’, IPK International, 2011, http://www.itb-kongress.de.
(9) Ibid.
(10) Ibid.
(11) ‘Chinese travellers changing the world’s tourism patterns’, People’s Daily Online, 15 June 2007, http://www.people.com.cn.
(12) Ibid.
(13) ‘UNWTO Tourism highlights’, United Nations World Tourism Organisation, 2012, http://www.unwto.org.
(14) ‘ITB World travel trends report’, IPK International, 2011, http://www.itb-kongress.de.
(15) Ibid.
(16) ‘China’s outbound travel boom shows no signs of slowing’, Jing Online, 16 July 2012, http://www.jingdaily.com.
(17) ‘Blue book of China’s tourism economy (no.4)’, China Tourism Academy, 30 March 2012, http://eng.ctaweb.org.
(18) ‘ITB World travel trends report’, IPK International, 2011, http://www.itb-kongress.de.
(19) ‘Chinese travellers changing the world’s tourism patterns’, People’s Daily Online, 15 June 2007, http://www.people.com.cn.
(20) ‘ITB World travel trends report’, IPK International, 2011, http://www.itb-kongress.de.
(21) ‘Blue book of China’s tourism economy (no.4)’, China Tourism Academy, 30 March 2012, http://eng.ctaweb.org.
(22) China’s tourists can help Africa fight poverty’, Green Earth, 20 May 2011, http://www.greenearth.travel.
(23) Zijlma, A., ‘The importance of tourism in Africa: Africa’s tourism potential’, Flying Blue: Club Africa, 2011, http://www.flyingblueclubafrica.com.
(24) Ibid.
(25) ‘UNWTO Tourism highlights’, United Nations World Tourism Organisation, 2012, http://www.unwto.org.
(26) This was until growth rates were offset by drops in tourism in North Africa caused by the current political turmoil.
(27) Zijlma, A., ‘The importance of tourism in Africa: Africa’s tourism potential’, Flying Blue: Club Africa, 2011, http://www.flyingblueclubafrica.com; ‘UNWTO Tourism highlights’, United Nations World Tourism Organisation, 2012, http://www.unwto.org.
(28) ‘China’s tourists can help Africa fight poverty’, Green Earth, 20 May 2011, http://www.greenearth.travel.
(29) ‘ITB World travel trends report’, IPK International, 2011, http://www.itb-kongress.de.
(30) Ibid.
(31) Ibid.
(32) Ibid.
(33) ‘Bringing more Chinese tourists to Africa: China to Africa (CTA) project officially launched’, PR Log, 14 July 2010, http://www.prlog.org; ‘China to Africa organisation (CTA) officially launched’, African Diaspora Tourism, 3 August 2010, http://www.africandiasporatourism.com.
(34) Yongmei, Y., ‘South Africa sets sights on China’s tourism market’, China Radio International, 16 July 2012, http://www.cri.cn.