China Outbound Tourism in 2017

According to the report of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of People's Republic of China, 130 million outbound trips were made in 2017, which is an increase of 7.0% compared with the same period in 2016. China has ranked the first for many years in outbound tourism market among all countries and regions in the world. 

The amount of outbound tourism expense keeps on increasing to USD 115.29 billion in 2017, with a rise of 5% over the same period of last year. Besides, outbound tourism expenses reached CNY 5,800 per capita, up 7% year on year. 
 

2. The number of outbound tourism destinations included in the Chinese passport has greatly increased to 153 countries/ regions. And more and more countries start to offer Chinese citizens free-visa entry or visa upon arrival.

4. With the increasing of the income and demand for traveling, more and more Chinese are willing to travel abroad. 
 

From the report, China has become the largest inbound tourism-generating region for ten countries, including Thailand, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Russia, Maldives and Indonesia, etc. In 2017, 9.8 million trips by Chinese citizens to Thailand accounted for 28% of global visitors to Thailand; the outbound trips of Chinese tourists to Japan reached 7.35 million, taking up 25.6%; about 30% of Vietnam’s international tourists come from China. Notably, the Chinese outbound tourism market still has great potential, since 90% of Chinese citizens still have not applied for passports for outbound tours.
 

Beijing, Shanghai, Suzhou, Wenzhou, Changchun, Shenyang, Dalian, Guiyang, Jinan, Qingdao. Beijing ranked first with cost of CNY 6,817 per person on average.
 

According to an unofficial report, among the top 20 destination countries among Chinese tourists in 2017, Southeast Asia is the biggest benefited area of China outbound tourism. 
 

1. Thailand	2. Japan	3. Singapore	4. Vietnam	5. Indonesia
6. Malaysia	7. Philippines	8. America	9. South Korea	10. Maldives

 

China outbound tourism showed a trend of upgraded consumption and increasing demands for qualified service. Chinese tourists gradually become preferring upgraded and personalized tourism products and discovery tours. They spend less in shopping but more in sightseeing and leisure while traveling.
 

In 2017, Chinese tourists are more aware of the safety of outbound travel, so they will take the safety of the destination as the priority when making travel plans. Thailand ranks first among the 10 safest countries for Chinese travelers, with the rest mainly distributed in Japan, Singapore, Australia, Northern Europe, the Middle East and United Arab Emirates. 
 

The predicted goal of China outbound tourism in 2018 is 134 million trips, with a growth of 4.5%.

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