Europe Is Gaining Popularity

While China remains the most popular destination for Chinese travelers, Europe is growing in popularity. Recent events support this trend: in response to the trade war between the U.S. and China, the Chinese embassy in Washington issued a travel warning for the United States – putting Europe even more in the spotlight as a travel destination.

Europe's airports prepare

Recognizing the potential of Chinese tourists, many countries, cities and regions in Europe are looking to improve their services to meet the needs of Chinese visitors. In particular, Europe's major airports are preparing for the growing number of Chinese passengers: China Eastern Airlines has launched direct flights between major Chinese cities and European capitals. Madrid's Adolfo Suarez-Barajas Airport has gone one step further, installing signs in Chinese characters to help Chinese passengers find their way around. In addition, Chinese-speaking staff will be hired specifically to help Chinese passengers through security.

Chinese payment methods enabled

To make your stay in Europe as pleasant as possible, you should be able to use Chinese payment methods such as WeChat and AliPay. The first airlines, such as KLM or Finnair, already offer this service, and it can also be used to pay in almost all shops at international airports in Europe. An important and, above all, lucrative measure: according to the latest International Travel Monitor report published by hotels.com, Chinese long-haul travelers spent an average of USD 315 per day locally in 2017.

The changing travel patterns of Chinese guests

As Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Arlt, founder and director of COTRI, the market leader for market studies, product and strategy development of the Chinese tourism industry, described in an interview with ADDITIVE, Chinese tour buses and mass tourists are increasingly becoming a thing of the past. Chinese guests are traveling more often and staying longer, as confirmed by the International Travel Monitor. While Chinese used to travel mainly for the Chinese New Year and the Golden Week at the beginning of October, tourists from China now travel all year round and stay an average of 8 to 9 days. Combining work and play is also becoming increasingly attractive to Chinese business travelers. Bleisure is the name of the new trend, the combination of business and leisure. As a result, a business trip is increasingly being combined with a vacation.

An authentic vacation experience is also very popular in China: international hotel chains tend to be avoided, and people stay in luxurious but typical local accommodations. This is also reflected in shopping - local and regional products are of interest to Chinese guests and are often purchased as souvenirs.