3 Thai destinations among Chinese favourites
PHUKET, BANGKOK and Chiang Mai are among the 20 most popular foreign destinations for Chinese travellers, according to TripAdvisor.
Last year, China passed the United States and Germany to become the world’s largest source of outbound tourists by expenditure, according to United Nations World Tourism Organisation. Capturing a share of this growing market has become a top priority of tourism boards and travel suppliers alike.
According to the China Tourism Academy, the Chinese outbound travel market should grow by 15 per cent to 94 million trips and spending by 20 per cent to US$117.6 billion (Bt3.69 billion) this year.
TripAdvisor, the world’s largest travel site, operates a highly cus?tomised version of its website designed specifically for Chinese travellers under the brand DaoDao.com. In July and August, millions of unique visitors came to DaoDao.com to research outbound destinations, representing an increase of more than 250 per cent from the same time last year.
Based on unique visitors recorded in July and August on DaoDao.com, the 20 most popular destinations are as follows (com?paring year-on-year growth for July and August 2012 versus July and August 2013):
1. Hong Kong, China (50 per cent)
2. Phuket, Thailand (250 per cent)
3. Taiwan (350 per cent)
4. Bangkok, Thailand (270 per cent)
5. Paris, France (360 per cent)
6. Dubai, UAE (210 per cent)
7. Macau, China (50 per cent)
8. Seoul, South Korea (180 per cent)
9. Singapore (170 per cent)
10. Bali, Indonesia (310 per cent)
11. Rome, Italy (180 per cent)
12. Chiang Mai, Thailand (180 per cent)
13. New York, United States (280 per cent)
14. London, United Kingdom (120 per cent)
15. Jeju Island, South Korea (570 per cent)
16. Boracay, Philippines (360 per cent)
17. Kyoto, Japan (580 per cent)
18. Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia (550 per cent)
19. Hanoi, Vietnam (510 per cent)
20. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (190 per cent)
Within the top 20 destinations, Kyoto, Kota Kinabalu, Hanoi and Jeju Island exhibited the highest year-on-year growth at high triple digits.
Thailand was the only country to feature three times, with Phuket sec?ond, Bangkok fourth and Chiang Mai in 12th place.
Outside of the top 20, destinations on the rise with more than four times year-on-year growth from DaoDao users were Siem Reap (Cambodia), Pattaya (Thailand), Sabah (Malaysia) and Berlin (Germany).
