Chinese tourists prefer Europe and SE-Asia – Rupert Hoogewerf

Luxury outbound travel by Chinese tourists keeps on booming, with Europe and SE-Asia as their favorite destinations, says the latest report by the Hurun or China Rich List, tells its chief researcher Rupert Hoogewerf to the Shanghai Daily.

The Shanghai Daily:

Europe and Southeast Asia were the most preferred destinations among the country’s super wealthy last year, accounting for 45 percent and 44 percent of respondents, respectively, according to “The Chinese Luxury Traveller,” which was released in its seventh year and covered 334 samples from 12 Chinese mainland cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing and Chengdu. These high-end tourists averaged 42 years of age with per capita wealth of nearly 22 million yuan (US$3.23 million).

Notably, Southeast Asia, in just two years, has successfully surpassed the Americas to become Chinese luxury traveller’s new choice, displaying a shocking 34 percent increase in millennial favor and jumping from last year’s fourth place to take the crown this year.

“In the past year, Chinese luxury travelers have gone abroad an average of 3.3 times and stayed for an average of 27 days, with tourism increasing 5 percent to reach 69 percent,” said Rupert Hoogewerf, Hurun Report Chairman and Chief Researcher. “And 60 percent of high net worth Chinese families are now willing to pay 3,000 yuan for a night on hotel accommodation and fly business or first class, impossibly high figures compared with a decade ago.”

By vocation theme, leisure, at 41 percent, was still the most popular among the rich while polar exploration and outdoor adventures have gained further momentum from the past two years, ranking the second (31 percent) and fourth (20 percent) respectively. As a new option in this year’s study, island holidays, at 23 percent, were the dark horse and surpassed both cruises and self-drive holidays to rank the third. Interestingly, island holidays were especially popular among the Post-80s generation and ranked first with 46 percent.

Looking forward, Around World travel, polar exploration and outdoor adventures will be the trend in themes for the Chinese luxury travelers in the next three years, with the Post-80s generation displaying an increased interest in Africa and the Polar regions, according to the report.