China’s recent domestic tourism trends have shown us that there is still a solid demand for travel. And with China’s economy being the only major one that grew this year, Chinese consumers will more likely have the means to travel in 2021.
This means tourist destinations around the world will be looking to the China market in particular as they hope for a rebound next year.
But Covid has changed all the rules, and this market won’t behave as it did in 2019. To succeed in appealing to Chinese consumers, it’s crucial to identify who will be travelling, and what they’ll be looking for.
When borders reopen and Covid becomes less of a barrier to international travel, what are we likely to see? Luckily, we only need to look at the trends from October’s holiday period to get a good idea.
Incoming trends for Outbound travel
First, it’s highly likely that small, independent groups will be driving China’s outbound tourism for the foreseeable future. These will largely be made up of young people, with under 30s accounting for a significant portion.
The October holiday also saw visits trending towards outdoor attractions, where social distancing is simpler. Bookings to the more sparsely populated Western China doubled, according to figures from online travel agency Qunar, and visits to Hainan, China’s tropical island, also spiked.
Interestingly, Beijing received almost as many visitors as it did in the same period in 2019, suggesting there is still demand for the top tourist destinations. Despite this, the data shows a clear shift towards smaller, younger groups visiting places with plenty of outdoor space.
See the Dragon Trail’s Golden week roundup for the full rundown of the numbers.
How does the UK measure up?
So what does this mean for the UK? It’s clear that Covid has affected everything, from visitor demographics, to where they will visit. Are we in a position to adapt to these shifting trends to appeal to the Chinese market?
Well, Potentially. Britain is already a very desirable location for Chinese tourism. According to the Anholt Nation Brand Index in 2018, Chinese consumers ranked the UK third out of 50 countries they would visit if money were no object.
We were among the top countries for culture, heritage and vibrant city life. In fact, Visit Britain reported cultural attractions as being the top reason for Chinese travellers to visit the UK.
However, the perception of Britain’s natural scenic beauty was much weaker in China, ranking only 15th out of 50 nations. With new trends shifting towards open scenic areas, this could mean Britain losing out on tourism to countries with more well-known areas of natural beauty.
Britain has some stunningly beautiful areas absolutely suited to meeting this need; the Scottish Highlands and the Lake District to name a couple. The challenge will be promoting them effectively in China.
Right now, London is by far the biggest destination for Chinese tourists; between 2016 and 2018 38% of their overnight visits were to the capital. This isn’t surprising considering our biggest cultural attractions are there.
But if we are going to see a tourism rebound in 2021, The UK needs to show the Chinese market there is more to Britain than London. It’ll be up to Destination Marketing Organisations like Visit Britain to adapt its marketing to do so.