Total spending of outbound Chinese visitors registered an increase of 12 per cent in local currency to US$261 billion (MOP2.09 trillion) for the whole year of 2016, making the group the biggest travel spender in the world, according to the latest World Tourism Barometer released by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).
The organisation notes the growth consolidates China’s position as the number one source market in the world since 2012, following a trend of double-digit growth in tourism expenditure every year since 2004.
The number of Chinese outbound tourists totalled some 135 million last year, an increase of 6 per cent year-on-year.
According to the report, the growth in Chinese’s outbound travel benefited many places in the Asia and the Pacific region – in particular, Japan, South Korea and Thailand – in addition to long-haul destinations such as the United States and several places in Europe.
Other big spenders
Following China, the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom and France are the other top spenders in the world.
Other major sources of outbound tourists in the Asia Pacific were South Korea and Australia – whose travel spending both increased by over 8 per cent year-on-year in 2016, totalling US$27 billion.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong saw expenditure of its outbound residents jump 5 per cent year-on-year to US$24 billion in the same year.
“The latest data on outbound tourism spending is very encouraging. Despite the many challenges of recent years the results of spending on travel abroad are consistent with the 4 per cent growth to 1.2 billion international tourist arrivals reported earlier this year for 2016,” commented UNWTO Secretary-General Taleb Rifai.
“People continue to have a strong appetite for travel and this benefits many countries all around the world, translating into economic growth, job creation and opportunities for development,” he added.
