Northstar

www.travelweeklyweb.com www.travelweeklyweb.com 10 | ■ TRAVELWeekly AsiA | FEBRUARY 2014 Outbound Travel Maldives China to Dominate Asia Outbound Travel by 2030 More than 80% of China's affluent consumers live in smaller cities outside super tier 1 cities like Beijing SINGAPORE – TripAdvisor, the world's largest travel site, and The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), a global management consulting firm, jointly published a new report on the travel and tourism industry titled, Winning the Next Billion Asian Travellers – Starting with China. The report showed that by 2030, more than 50% of the growth in global traffic will come from Asia Pacific and 49% of all passenger traffic globally will be within Asia Pacific or between the region and the rest of the world. "Dream" destinations of Chinese Travellers include, the Maldives, US, France, Australia, Greece, the UK, New Zealand, and Italy. Photo: TripAdvisor Travellers from China will account for the lion's share of this growth — accounting for around 40% of Asian outbound travellers by 2030. Within the same time frame, China will likely overtake the US as the world's largest domestic travel market. Specifically, by 2030, Chinese urban travellers will take 1.7 billion domestic and outbound trips annually, up from 500 million today, spending US$1.8 trillion on travel and tourism — nearly seven times their current expenditures. The report shows that China's outbound leisure market will grow the fastest, with its travel and tourism spending increasing by 15% year-on-year between now and 2030. TripAdvisor revealed several important insights into the future growth direction of China's outbound tourism market, including destinations that Chinese travellers are investigating, the cities they come from, factors that motivate their travel choices, and how businesses can better cater to their needs and preferences. Growing Chinese Interest in Long-Haul and Exotic Destinations According to data from TripAdvisor's official site in Chia daodao. com, the number of unique visitors in July and August 2013 who researched outbound destinations has increased by more than 250% (excluding Hong Kong and Macau), compared to the same period the year before. Of those who researched outbound destinations in Photo Velassaru Maldives SLH.com Photo: TripAdvisor

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