China Outbound Tourism in 2014

By November of 2014 China’s yearly outbound tourists reached 100 million for the first time, a milestone in China’s outbound tourism. In the whole year, the outbound tourists reached 117 million, an increase of 19.16% over 2013.

In the first ten months of 2014 other countries in Asia received most Chinese visitors, 85.42 million,  an increase of 16.1%, compared with the same period in 2013. There are several reasons: cultural differences are relatively few; travel costs are lower; transportation is more convenient and short-distance travel requires only short and more flexible holidays. Among the Asian regions Hong Kong was the favorite destination by mainland visitors, with Macau the second favorite. Together they received about 70% of mainland outbound visitors in the first ten months of 2014.

Following Asia was Europe, receiving 3.43 million Chinese visitors, an increase of 10.4%. Africa surpassed America and received the third most Chinese visitors, reaching 2.69 million, an increase of 93.2%. America dropped to fourth, but still received 2.63 million, an increase of 14.8%. The last was Oceania, welcoming 1.09 Chinese, an increase of 21%.

Chinese visitors made great contributions to the development of outbound destinations in many aspects during the year, including hotels, restaurants, attractions, airlines and retail . The destination countries also adopted new policies to attract the Chinese, such as decreasing visa fees, simplifying visa applications, operating more international flights to China and employing Chinese tour guides and salespersons.

However, as more and more Chinese traveled abroad, discussions about bad behaviors of Chinese tourists got hotter. We hope that Chinese visitors behave themselves in foreign countries/ regions and pay respect to local culture and customs. At the same time we also hope that local people show more understanding and forgiveness of any improper behaviors by Chinese, caused by different habits and cultural differences.
 In 2014 the outbound tourism turned into a stable growing period from the previous explosively growing period. The origin of travelers is not limited to the first tier cities in developed eastern areas any more, but also second and third tier cities in middle and western China. Traveling abroad is enjoyed not only by officials and the elite class any more, but also by common people. Fewer Chinese traveled abroad for shopping, while more traveled to experience different cultures and appreciate different scenery. A large number traveled by themselves.
 In the third quarter of 2014, travel agencies organized 11,759,000 visitors to foreign countries, an increase of 9.47% over the same period in 2013. Among them, 80% went to other Asian destinations.

In the first three quarters of 2014, there were 27,841,319 visitors who were organized by tour agencies to foreign countries.
  

Destinations	Number of Chinese Mainland Tourists
Hong Kong	5,370,884
South Korea	3,546,921
Thailand	2,884,539
Taiwan	2,671,350
Macau	2,434,431
Japan	1,394,203
Singapore	990,159
Malaysia	677,836
Indonesia	646,048
France	619,294
United States	553,846
Italy	497,453
Vietnam	440,683
Switzerland	436,771
Australia	413,333
Germany	397,611
Russia	354,065
United Kingdom	239,967
New Zealand	222,566
Philippines	218,010

Data Source: Ministry of Culture and Tourism of People's Republic of China

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