Where have all the travelers gone?

Two separate reports compare September travel numbers with the downturn that accompanied the SARS scare of 2003.

The International Air Transport Association put out a strongly worded press release headlined ‘Alarming Drop for September International Traffic.’

Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s Director General and CEO  said, ‘The deterioration in traffic is alarmingly fast-paced and widespread. We have not seen such a decline in passenger traffic since SARS in 2003.’

Another analysis — from business consultant Deloitte — this one from the British hotel industry, also references the SARS era, saying ‘September was the worst month since August 2003 when SARS scares reduced travel.’
More HERE.
Source: Wall Street Journal

Hakka round houses

China is waking up to the attraction is has within each state. Most unlikely but, honestly, Guangdong has abundant and unique tourism resources in each of its 21 cities.

They include natural attractions such as hot springs and mountains, and man-made travel spots, including the Hakka Round Houses and golf courses.

In the northern part of the capital city Guangzhou, Baiyun Mountain attracts a large number of international and local tourists very day.

Only 6 kilometers from Guangzhou’s center, the mountain’s summit, 380 meter Moxing Peak, can be reached by cable car.

The site also includes the newly built Bird Paradise, the largest aviary facility in China. A park at the summit is home to Baiyun Wanwang Pavilion.

The mountain is among the eight-most popular travel sites in Guangzhou.

Eastern Guangdong is home to most Hakka people in the nation. Their unique round houses have been built for several centuries, with those in Shizhai county of Shanwei city are the most famous.
Source: China.org.cn

Part of the National Library of North Korea

China will allow its travel agencies to organize tour groups to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) of North Korea as the Chinese government has decided to grant approved destination status to the neighboring country.

China’s National Tourism Administration (NTA) said group tours to the DPRK will start ‘at an appropriate time after the two countries negotiate details and sign official agreements.’ Which, in truth, sounds promising.

Deputy head of the NTA Du Jiang said when he met his DPRK counterpart during a visit to the country that  2009, the 60th anniversary of the establishment of Sino-DPRK diplomatic relations, would be a good opportunity for both countries to enhance cooperation in tourism.

Deputy Director Kang Chul-soo of the DPRK National Tourism Administration said the DPRK considered China as an important tourist source and hoped China could offer assistance in such fields as tourism promotion and personnel training.

Air China, the leading Chinese carrier, launched direct service from Beijing to Pyongyang in March. It is the only foreign airline to offer scheduled flights to the DPRK capital.
Source: English People’s Daily Online

Tourists on the Great Wall

Some facts about China tourism from China View:

Fourth among the world’s leading tourist destinations.
Top outbound tourism market in Asia.54.7 million visitor arrivals from January to May, of which 10.74 million were from overseas, 8% higher than the same period last year. The rest were from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macao.
International tourism receipts: A total of $17.15 billion was taken in from January to May, up 4.86% year on year.
Top destination cities: Shenzhen, the Hong Kong border city, Shanghai, the eastern business hub, and the country’s capital, Beijing, attracted the most foreign tourists during the first five months.
Properties and sites: Through June, the country had registered 37 properties inscribed on the World Heritage list, and 66 AAAAA-rated tourist sites.
Foreign receipts exceeded $41.9 billion in 2007.
Source: China View

According to forecasts from the World Tourism Organization, China will be the world’s largest inbound tourism market, the fourth largest for outbound tourism and the largest for domestic tourism in the world by 2015.

This will probably translate into more than 100 million overseas tourists and more than 2.8 billion domestic tourists in China by 2015.

Last year, Beijing received 4.4 million overseas tourists and 140 million domestic tourists, a growth of 11.6% and 6.1% year on year.

However, the new supply of more than 12,000 internationally managed hotel rooms in Beijing in 2008 means the future is not, as yet, totally clear.

If the outlook for Beijing has yet to firm up, Shanghai, the financial center of China, seems to be enjoying a rosy picture extending in to the long term.

The number of overseas tourists arriving in the city had a compound annual growth rate of 13.8% between 2002 and 2007.

With the expansion of the Shanghai New International Expo Center and the coming of the World Expo 2010, the city has got it made with the MICE market both regionally and globally.
Source: China View

Margaret Bowler, director Global Hotel Relations at HRG (Hogg Robinson which was founded in 1845), said in a survey of the world: ‘The hotel industry reported strong performance in 2007 - although not to the levels of 2006 with many key cities achieving single as opposed to double digit growth.’

Only five of the 50 cities surveyed for the global average room rate listing recorded a decline in rates in 2007, none of them in China.

Growth in average room rates in China is comparatively low, with the market lagging behind its BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) counterparts. The illustration shows the four countries with a neat pun on BRIC.

Significant hotel openings, particularly in the country’s financial capital Shanghai and in Beijing, have served simply to ‘mop up’ increased demand from Western hotel brands, with occupancy rates falling marginally as a result in many cities.

This effect is expected to balance out with the Olympics.

‘The Chinese market operates very differently from other markets; Chinese business travellers prefer to stay in branded hotel chains that they recognize.

As such, Western hotel chains are scrambling to establish a presence in China to encourage the growing number of Chinese business travelers to stay in their hotels whilst traveling overseas.

As the industry continues to grow there is a marked increase in the shortage of rooms with availability posing an ongoing challenge in certain cities.
Source: MICE BTN

The China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) and the U.S. Department of Commerce today announced that starting on June 17, 2008, Chinese leisure travelers may travel to the United States in group tours.

CNTA Chairman Shao Qiwei will lead the inaugural Chinese tour group on June 17 to Washington, D.C.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez said: ‘This memorandum of understanding opens China’s growing market to U.S. travel and tourism industries. Now, more Chinese visitors can experience America’s hospitality, cultural diversity, and natural beauty.

Increased visitation from China will boost overall visitation to the United States, strengthen the relationship between our nations, and forge new friendships between our peoples.’

By 2020, China will become the world’s fourth largest source of tourists.

On average, Chinese citizens spend more during their stay than visitors from other countries. In 2006, average per visitor spending by Chinese citizens traveling to the United States was more than $6,000.
Source: Shanghai Daily

Forthcoming international events — Olympic Games soon, World Fair in Shanghai in 2010 — means the Chinese tourism industry looks as though it is set to continue to grow for the foreseeable future.

China has not only emerged as an attractive tourist destination but also as a prominent tourist generating country.

China Tourism Industry Analysis (2007-2011), a research report by RNCOS says that in recent years, China has become the world’s fourth largest international tourist hub. The report believes it has has identified the reasons making China a tourism giant in the world.

According to the report, economic growth and reforms are creating favorable conditions for the Chinese tourism industry. But one of the major reasons for the high activity in the tourism industry of China is its accession to the WTO that gave a new direction to the Chinese tourism industry. This has further opened up the country to trade and investment opportunities.

The government is extending its full support and has already adopted several measures to promote the industry on a large scale.

The RNCOS research says growth in international tourism receipts by the industry was 58% up in 2007 over 2006.

The report also provides a forecast on revenue generation and international tourism receipts and more.
Source: Newswire

A survey of American travelers by AAA and GlobalInsight has some interesting findings.

China and India may see larger jumps in American visitors this summer than any other country. China may see a 13% increase, to 573,000 American visitors.

Travel to Canada and Mexico will be about the same this summer as last.
Travel to Italy should be up nearly 5%, to 1.6 million American travelers.
Travel to France should jump by nearly 7% to about 1.1 million American travelers.
Travel to Germany ought to increase by slightly more than 4%, to 724,000 American travelers.

Which goes to show that although much is made of the China travel boom the facts are it is still a long, long way behind many, more traditional tourist countries.
Source: Budget

It seems likely that with the easing of tensions between the mainland and Taiwan then we can look forward to something of a tourist boom. Hoteliers and guides and restaurants plainly think this is a good thing.

However, the prospect of a mainland tourist invasion has not been view throughout with unalloyed delight.

Skeptics say only a few privileged businesses would benefit, and that the island’s scenic spots could be spoiled by greedy developers and a tourist stampede.

Long off-limits to the mainland Taiwan is now popular among mainland tourists for its scenery, preservation of Chinese tradition and for historical sites.

Chinese tourists were first officially admitted to Taiwan in 2002. But visits are capped at 1,000 a day, and tourists must travel to the island via third locations because of restrictions on direct cross-strait flights.

If Ma Ying-jeou, the president-elect, (seen looking dashing in our illustration) has his way, that will change.

Ma, who takes office on May 20, has promised to reach an agreement on more Chinese tourists and weekend cross-strait charter flights by early July, expanding to weekday charters by the end of the year and regularly scheduled flights by summer 2009. All this is part of his election pledge to stimulate the island’s laggard economy with closer cross-strait economic ties.

Under the plan, the cap would be tripled to 3,000 Chinese tourists a day, or more than 1 million per year. Last year, 320,169 mainlanders visited Taiwan, only 81,900 of whom officially came as tourists. The rest were listed as business travelers or ‘others.’

In a few years, Ma hopes, the cap could rise to 10,000 tourist visits per day.

Tourist revenues will have benefits throughout the economy, he says, especially helping lower- and middle-income Taiwanese in the service sector.

The investment bank CLSA estimates that if 1 million Chinese tourists visit Taiwan each year they will spend $1.3 billion, and help boost GDP by up to 1.4% of 2007 levels.

Not everyone has such a rosy view. Some point out that the economic benefits will not be spread around, because Chinese tend to travel to Taiwan in regimented tour groups that only stop at contracted businesses.
Source: NewsWire