“Bottom fishing” maybe the most used “Keyword” in describing what’s happening to businesses such as the stock market and real estate, or even for the travel industry globally.  Looking for business opportunities among discount travelers is especially important ever since the start of the global economic crisis.  However, stimulated by deep discounts and the continuously falling foreign currency exchange rate, many Chinese consumers are considering this year to be a good time to travel abroad.  So, it might be a good idea for the travel industry to go trolling for high end travelers rather than using drift nets to fish for schools of sardines.  According to a recent World Tourism Report (released at the Berlin Tourism Fair), China’s outbound tourism business is actually expected to grow in 2009.

China Polling has conducted a nationwide online International Travel survey to try to understand what Chinese consumer travel plans are and what the outbound tourism travel will be like this year.  The 133 panelists surveyed since last quarter of 2008, 28.2% said they have traveled once in the last year, another 28% traveled twice and 27% have traveled more than twice last year.  Among all, 29% have visited foreign countries before and an overwhelming 96.4% plan to travel abroad in the future.

The most popular overseas destination is Paris, followed by Tokyo and Bali.

Powered by China Polling Real Time Stats, March 2009

Despite the bad economic condition which cause slight increase in demand for economical sightseeing tours by 3% (Q4 vs. Q2~Q3 Data), personalized tours and theme tours (approx. 51%) are still the most popular travel products for Chinese when traveling abroad. Most personalized tours and theme tours are priced higher than economical tours (mostly in large groups).

Powered by China Polling Real Time Stats, March 2009

When asked about their travel budget, majority of consumers (75%) are planning to spend between RMB10,000~40,000 on their International trips.  There is a 3% jump in those consumers willing to spend RMB10,000~20,000, comparing data from 2008 Q4 to Q2~Q3.

Powered by China Polling Real Time Stats, March 2009

Within all types of theme tours, adventure tours, food and drink tours, spa and relaxation tours are among the consumers’ favorite choices.

Powered by China Polling Real Time Stats, March 2009

Over 80% of consumers choose to travel with their families and friends and 10.8% prefer to travel alone.

Overall, consumers do have high level of willingness to travel abroad; however, the key attractions are leaning more towards higher priced personalized travel products.  So, economical tour packages is a given for Chinese travelers, but exciting and personalized tour packages are the right combination to snag the Chinese overseas travelers.

Number of Samples: 133
Data Capture Period: 2009.9.1 – 2009.3.30
China Polling conducts Omnibus Surveys on an ongoing basis to provide continuous tracking of consumer trends in China.  This innovative approach to tracking consumer behavior will allow companies looking to enter the China market to get the most up to date information about what’s hot and what’s not here in China.  All real-time datasets are available for purchase online.  Additional questions can be added into the Omnibus Survey and fielded at any time.