Tourists wait to check in at Beijing Capital International Airport.

Industry insiders said although the current travel crisis will have some effect on tourism within China, it will not be very serious.

According to recent statistics from the National Tourism Administration, Chinese outbound visitors reached 34.4 million in the first nine months of this year, up 14.8% year-on-year. In September, about 3.7 million Chinese people traveled overseas, an increase of 9.04% year-on-year.

In addition, domestic tourism is flourishing, with more than 178 million Chinese traveling within the country during the National Day holiday week, up 22.1% from the same period last year.

Despite the financial crisis and worries about a global recession, many Chinese travel companies remain confident about their business prospects, saying that due to huge domestic demand and tremendous market potential, China’s tourism sector will be able to weather the storm.
Much more HERE.
Source: China Daily

Holiday Inn Vista Shanghai

With a possibly rightful claim that it is the world’s most recognized hotel brand, Holiday Inn Hotels & Resorts, has been named the Best Mid-Market Hotel Brand in the World and Best Mid-Market Hotel Brand in Asia Pacific at the Business Traveller Asia Pacific Awards. This is its eighth successive year for winning this title.

The Business Traveller Asia Pacific Awards reflect the views of frequent business travelers who take part in its annual survey of travel-related services. The survey results are independently analyzed by global market research company Synovate.

In October 2007, IHG announced the $1billion relaunch of the Holiday Inn brand. The brand is being relaunched to create a more contemporary brand image, enhance quality and drive consistency across all hotels worldwide.

Holiday Inn was launched in 1952 — the name was taken from a woeful film starrig Bing Crosby — and there are currently over 3,200 Holiday Inns globally, including 108 in Asia Pacific. 

Holiday Inn is the largest hotel brand in China.
Source: FinChannel.com

Tourist in China

The China National Tourism Administration states China’s tourism income reached RMB1,095.7 billion ($160.328 billion) in 2007, up 22.6% year-on-year.

Last year China had 131.87 million inbound tourists. Domestic were 1.6 million and outbound travelers 40.95 million.

International tourism income reached $41.91 billion, up 23.5%. Domestic tourism income reached RMB777.06 billion, up 24.7%.

Tourists from other Asian countries took up 61.5% of all international tourists. The Republic of Korea continued to be the first on the list of nations.

By the end of 2007, the country had 13,583 star hotels, up 6.5%, while the number of travel agencies increased to 18,943 from 17,957 in the previous year.
Source: China View

The Olympics encourage tourism.

According to a survey released by the Nielson Company China has become even more of a global tourist attraction after the Beijing Olympics.

The survey said the Olympics not only built up China’s image but also served as an advertisement for China’s tourism.

The online survey was conducted on consumers in 16 countries and regions before the Games’ opening ceremony and after the closing.

About 80% of the respondents had not been to China before the events and 50% of them expressed hopes of visiting China after the Games.

According to the survey, 70% of the respondents felt Beijing was more modern and scientific than what they had thought.

The most interested respondents were from Hong Kong, Singapore, India, Mexico, Taiwan, South Africa and the Republic of Korea.

Pan Wen, in charge of Chinese tourism research of the Nielson Company, said the World Tourism organization predicted that China would become the largest tourist attraction in the world with 137 million foreign tourists every year.
Source: China View

The delights of corporate travel

According to the American Express Business Travels second survey of corporate travel management service in China, the country will become the world’s third-largest market for corporate travel within five years.

The survey shows that the spending on international business travel by China approximates $4.2 billion a year, which is 17% of the Asian market for business travel. This figure, in addition to the spending on the domestic business travel in China, adds up to almost US$20 billion.

The healthy growth of China’s GDP is likely to secure a two-digit rise in China’s business travel market in a few years. It is estimated that by the year 2020, the number of Chinese business travelers will be five times as many as that at present.

International travel service providers and global giants such as American Express, Kar Shun Travel, and Rosenbluth have noticed the potential of China market for business travel and have made inroads into China.
Source: Travel in China

Golden Week crowds in Beijing

According to an online survey carried out by sina.com, one of the country’s largest online communitie, the cancellation of the National Day golden week is opposed by most netizens.

Some 78.31% of the 49,422 respondents thought cancellation of the National Day golden week will leave them less time for traveling or family reunions, as the paid vacations system is hard to implement.

Cai Jiming, a professor with Tsinghua University and an advocator of national holiday reforms, said the National Day golden week should be cancelled just as the May Day golden week was, if the paid vacations system is strictly followed by businesses.

China introduced the golden week system in 1999 to promote the idea of going out and help stimulate domestic consumption.
Source: China Daily

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

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

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

Being listed in Travel and Leisure Magazine’s ‘Top 500’ Hotels is an accolade. It has just happened to the JW Marriott Hotel Shanghai which has been listed in the 2008 World’s Best Hotels survey ‘Top 500 Hotels’.

Every year, the Travel and Leisure Magazine puts together a team of reporters to assess hotels around the world using a list of criteria. This includes the property’s range of facilities, number of rooms as well as any unique attributes which separates them from other accommodations.

Each hotel is then given a score out of a possible 100 points. The JW Marriot Hotel Shanghai scored 84.03 points.

The JW Marriott Hotel Shanghai opened in late 2003 and has been presented with a number of awards including ‘2005 Best New Business Hotel in China’ by Business Traveler China as well as ‘2006 Best Business Hotels Award’ by Forbes China.