The China National Tourism Administration has recently released data showing that Chinese travelers made 4.12 billion trips on domestic or outbound travel in 2015, equivalent to the entire mainland Chinese population making nearly three trips each during the year. The number of outbound trips totaled 120 million during the year.

Revenues from tourism exceeded RMB4 trillion (approx: US$607 billion） . The World Travel and Tourism Council reported that China’s tourism industry contributed 10.1% to the GDP, surpassing the contributions of the education, banking and automobile industries.

Independent travelers comprised 3.2 billion of the four billion domestic trips recorded in 2015, and they spent an average of RMB937.5 per person on domestic travel. Overall, China’s domestic independent tourism market was worth three trillion RMB (approx: US$455 billion）.

The number of travelers on organized outbound tours grew 35.2%, but the proportion of outbound travelers in the total outbound travel number grew only 2.5%. Two thirds of the 120 million outbound trips in 2015, or 80 million trips, were made by independent travelers.

Outbound travelers spent an average of over RMB11,625 per person  (approx: US$1,765） in 2015. Spending by outbound independent travelers accounted for 80% of the outbound market’s shopping expenditure of RMB684.1 billion (approx: US$103 billion）in 2015. Chinese visitors on average spent more than RMB7,000 (approx: US$1,062）on shopping in Japan, Korea, Europe and the US. The 1% of Chinese passengers out of all passengers at London Heathrow Airport accounted for 25% of the airport’s duty-free sales.

The overseas shopping expenditure of Chinese visitors averaged RMB5,830 (approx: US$885）per person from January to October 2015, up 16.3% y-o-y. Among outbound Chinese travelers, 53.6% cited shopping as the main reason for travel, and the travelers spent 55.8% of their overseas expenditure on shopping.

The number of tourists visiting attractions with an organized tour dropped from the level of 60%-70% in 2010 to 20%-30% in 2015. The number of travelers who drove independently to attractions rose to 75% of the total number of visitors received by attractions.

Among independent travelers, 71.2% said they wanted a one-stop solution and better purchasing, consumer experience, and faster travel solutions for tourism consumption.  

The top 10 outbound destinations in 2015 were: Hong Kong, Seoul, Toyko, Phuket, Bangkok, Singapore, Taipei, Chiang Mai, Bali and Jeju Island.

The top 10 Chinese cities for guesthouses were: Jinhua, Hangzhou, Wenzhou, Taizhou, Zhaoxing, Xiamen, Ningbo, Shanghai, Wuxi and Beijing.（Translation by David)