China’s outbound market is still growing exponentially, contrasting travel industry fears of a slowdown.
Speaking at ITB China, Ctrip CEO Jane Sun says the outlook remains very positive, evidenced by a near 15% rise to almost 150 million Chinese travellers taking overseas trips in 2018.
As many as 4 million travelled overseas during the recent Labor Day holidays.
Ctrip data shows a growing trend for overseas trips among third and fourth tier cities, supported by better air connections.
"At present, China’s urbanization is under 60% and it is expected that it will take 10 to 20 years to reach 70 to 80% as in the developed countries," Sun said.
The market is still a long way from saturation as just 10% of Chinese citizens have private passports, she said.
While countries in North and Southeast Asia have been reaping the economic benefits, the US is seeing a steady downturn due to the China-US trade war.
Chinese travellers are shunning the US and now choosing Europe instead, as they feel more ‘welcomed’ there, Sun said.
During the last Golden Week holidays, the US fell five places to 10th most popular country.
