Chinese outbound tourism development

Chinese outbound tourism developmentUntil 1983, the Chinese Government placed tight restrictions on the outbound tourism market. Then, following a pattern observed in many socialist economies, a slightly liberalised policy was adopted, first allowing Chinese leisure travel to Hong Kong and Macau, then to Southeast Asian countries. At that time, “outbound travel” was defined as visiting overseas friends and relatives (VFRs). Thus, these trips were sponsored financially by overseas relatives and friends so there was no drain on China’s foreign exchange reserves. With increasing numbers of Chinese travelling to Hong Kong and Macau, more and more people expressed the desire to visit their relatives in other regions. In 1990, with the approval of the State Council, CNTA, the Foreign Ministry and the Public Security Ministry, the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office announced the “Provisional Regulations on Management of Organising Chinese Citizens to Travel to Three Countries in Southeast Asia”. This regulation enabled Chinese citizens to visit friends and relatives in Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia if sponsored by their overseas relatives and friends (Dou and Dou, 1999). The Philippines joined the group in 1992.However, with the development of travelling services, VFR travel was augmented with holiday leisure travel and Chinese tourists began to outlay the Chinese currency yuan, rather than US dollars, to purchase their travel. In 1991, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand became the first three countries granted Approved Destination Status (ADS) by the Chinese Government. Approved Destination Status means that China permits its residents to travel to selected countries for personal and leisure purposes. Thus, Chinese citizens are able to travel in groups to ADS countries on all-inclusive package tours. Subsequently, other Southeast Asian countries, such as the Philippines and South Korea, were also recognised and awarded ADS by the Chinese Government. In April 1999, Australia became the first western country opened up to the Chinese outbound tourism market. Soon afterwards New Zealand became the second western country to be granted ADS. When Chinese citizens from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong Province2 intend to travel overseas for leisure2 The ADS group tourism program has been expanded to nine regions in China in November, 2003. The six new Chinese regions are Chongqing, Tianjin, Hebei Province, Zhe Jiang Province, Jiangsu Province and Shandong Province (Australian Touirst Commission, 2003).8purposes, they must arrange the tour through authorised Chinese travel agents and travel in a group. The Chinese authorised travel agents will apply for ADS visas on behalf of the tourists. If Chinese citizens travel to Australia for other purposes, such as business, education and VFRs, they may arrange their tours through either authorised or unauthorised Chinese travel agents, but they have to obtain their visas on their own. Therefore, the mainstream business of the Chinese inbound travel trade to Australia is the ADS group market, whereas inbound travel for non-ADS purposes is considered a niche market in this study.A typical all-inclusive package includes international travel, private chartered coach within Australia, sightseeing excursions, local guides, accommodation and meals (mainly Chinese food with some Australian style meals). This form of tour arrangement can be compared with typical Western inclusive holiday packages (Laws, 1997) providing Chinese clients with similar advantages, particularly the benefit of knowing beforehand what to budget for their holiday, and relieving them of the anxiety of making their own arrangements in a foreign country.In addition, the introduction by the Chinese Government of so-called “Golden Weeks”, which are three standardised one-week long holidays granted annually for International Labour Day (1 May- 7 May), National Day (1 Oct-7 Oct) and Chinese New Year (also called Spring Festival), has also boosted the development of the Chinese outbound tourism market (Zhang, 1997). Up to 2003, 28 countries and regions worldwide have ADS for Chinese tourists: Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Korea, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and more recently, Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, Brunei, Indonesia, India, Vietnam, Nepal, Malta, Maldives, Turkey, Egypt, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Germany, Croatia, Hungary and Cuba (CNTA, 2003b). Reflecting these developments, the total number of Chinese outbound tourists has grown rapidly in the period from 1994-2001 (Figure 1.3). The number of Chinese outbound tourists in organised tour groups increased to 3,695,300 in 2001, which is 30.45 percent of the number of total Chinese outbound tourists (CNTA, 2002). Other Chinese tourists are independent travellers for various purposes, such as education, business, and VFRs.