For outbound travel from China tackling unethical business practices is a top priority. This is true for the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA), as well as for anyone who wants to effectively compete for the emerging China mega-market.

CNTA has set up a web page for consumers to register their complaints.

Nearly 900 complaints about outbound tours were logged in 2006 (78% more than 2005), and from January-June this year, Chinese travelers had logged 466 complaints.

Complaints were about shopping tours, quality standards, hidden costs, accommodation standards, shortcuts in tour programs, and surcharges for younger or older tour members.

Kate Chang of PATA said, ‘Given the growth in the number of outbound trips taken by Chinese travellers the number of complaints seems very small. However, according to Chinese culture, people do not like to complain unless it is a big deal to them.’

For destinations competing for Chinese travelers, reputation based on honesty, quality and value will be a critical factor for success. There is a very full report which you can get by clicking on Travel Daily News.
Source: Travel Daily News

At the moment it is not easy for a foreign operator to sell on the China market. This may change somewhat. A China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) official has said foreign tour agencies will be treated on par with domestic counterparts when it comes to registered capital.

Currently, they are required to have a minimum of RMB2.5 million ($328,000) in registered capital, compared to RMB300,000 yuan for domestic tours and RMB1.5 million ($197,000) for outbound and inbound tours for Chinese counterparts.

The CNTA now also allows foreign-funded travel agencies to set up subsidiaries in China. This is ahead of the November 11 deadline set by the World Trade Organization (WTO ).

However, there will still be some restrictions. There are probably around 29 solely-funded or joint-venture foreign tour operators. But, and this is the important bit, foreign tour agencies cannot handle outbound business. Inbound and domestic travel only. And that is not where the money is.

A CNTA official said outbound tourism — the most lucrative part of the market — will remain closed to foreign tour agencies for now, because ‘it is not part of China’s promise to the WTO’.

The World Tourism Organization estimates China will become the world’s fourth-largest source of outbound tourists by 2015.

An industry insider said, ‘It is the potential of the outbound market that has attracted so many foreign operators in the first place. We are looking forward to the day when the outbound market opens.’

One positive signal is that the CNTA recently allowed Hong Kong and Macao-funded tour agencies to cater to mainland tourists in eight provinces and regions bound for the two special administrative regions.

Takashi Ota, president of the splendidly named Kinki Nippon Tourist, Japan’s second-largest tourism company, suggested the CNTA consider allowing collaboration between foreign and Chinese tour operators in the outbound market as a start.

Large domestic agencies are simply not interested. They have said, understandably, they prefer current policies that bar access to the outbound market for foreign firms. Whether the WTO will force through such a change is open to debate because there is a large amount of other, more pressing, subjects.
Source: China View

Bruce Bommarito, vice president of international market development for the Travel Industry Association in the United States said of the tourist market from China to the USA and shown on the right, said, ‘In the next 10 years, it will probably dwarf any overseas market we may have, with the potential to dwarf all overseas markets combined.’

The number of Chinese who travel outside their homeland each year is expected to nearly triple to 100-million by 2020, and American cities and businesses are positioning themselves to profit from what they hope will be a tourist boom. They are establishing offices in China and lobbying the government to ease restrictions on travel to the United States.

While the number of Chinese visitors has been increasing as yet it is not a flood. Far from it. 320, 000 Chinese — 1.5% of overseas visitors — traveled to the United States in 2006. Of the Chinese who left the mainland, fewer than one in 100 headed for the United States. But many American entrepreneurs think that number could soon explode.

Rising disposable income has made travel an increasingly attainable luxury, and one that is often viewed as a status symbol.
Source: St Petersburg Times

A growing interest in tourism among Chinese who have seen their incomes rise while travel restrictions have lessened could bring a fortune to hotels, tour companies and attractions around the United States.

The number of Chinese who travel outside their homeland each year is expected to nearly triple to 100 million people by 2020. American cities and businesses are positioning themselves to profit from what they hope will be a tourist boom. They are establishing offices in China, and lobbying the government to ease restrictions on travel to the U.S.

Bruce Bommarito, vice president of international market development for the Travel Industry Association, said, ‘In the next 10 years, it will probably dwarf any overseas market we may have, with the potential to dwarf all overseas markets combined.’

It has a lot of growing to do. 320,000 Chinese — 1.5% of all overseas visitors — traveled to the U.S in 2006. Many American entrepreneurs believe that number could soon explode.

Noel Irwin Hentschel, CEO of tour operator AmericanTours International, said China will be her company’s top business focus in the coming decades. She predicted that by 2009 Chinese tourists will account for one-tenth of the roughly 1 million customers her company ferries around the United States each year.

In 2004, Nevada became the first non-nation to win approval from the Chinese government to open a tourism office there and advertise directly to the Chinese public. Los Angeles, San Francisco and Hawaii have since won permission to open offices or hire representatives. And New York hopes to in the near future.
Source: Daily Herald Chicago

China has announced it will soon ‘fully open’ its domestic travel market to foreign-owned travel agencies. This looks like being four months ahead of China’s scheduled November deadline under terms set by its entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO). Beginning July 1 foreign-funded travel agencies will be able to set up subsidiary offices without restrictions. At the moment an agency requires about $40,000 capital to set up an office in the Chinese domestic market.

Shao Qiwei, head of the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA), said: ‘We welcome the entry of the world’s big tourism companies and well-known brand names into China. It will help to enhance the competitiveness of Chinese tourism companies.’

In the past five years, 25 foreign-funded travel agencies have set up offices in China.

To encourage the industry’s development, CNTA is encouraging travel agencies to offer more travel products and service providers to upgrade service standards.

Yao Yuecan, president of the China International Travel Services, said small agencies are cutting prices to compete against traditional state-owned agencies. ‘It is not easy to survive in China’s market with a limited profit margin.’

Official statistics show China has the largest domestic tourism market in the world, registering 1.3 billion travelers in 2006 and further set to grow to 1.7 billion by 2010.
Source: Travel Video TV