End of the road for Chinese group travel

The second annual Chinese International Travel Monitor (CITM) released by Hotels.com, reveals significant insights into the changing behaviours of Chinese travellers and how the global hotel industry is adapting.

More than 3,000 Chinese international travellers and 1,500 hoteliers around the world took part in the survey.

In a growing trend, nearly two thirds (62%) of Chinese travellers say they prefer to travel independently and not as part of a group.

This development has been confirmed by the hoteliers surveyed, who say 70% of Chinese guests now travel independently, compared with a much more even split in 2012.

This figure was even in higher in Australia, with four in five hoteliers (82%) noting the increase in Chinese travellers holidaying independently.

Johan Svanstrom, managing director of Hotels.com Asia Pacific, said: "The 2013 Chinese International Travel Monitor shows the move to independent travel identified in the CITM last year is now preferred by the majority of Chinese travellers.

"While in-roads have been made in this area, governments will have to take this into account when organising their visa application infrastructure and processes."

Highlighting a disconnect between the desires of Chinese travellers and provisions made by hoteliers, a quarter of hoteliers say they offer cultural awareness training to staff but only one in ten offer welcome materials in Mandarin.

When it comes to researching and booking travel, personal recommendation plays an increasingly vital role, with almost a third (30%) of Chinese travellers saying they rely on advice from family and friends, followed by online travel booking and review sites.

More than a quarter of Chinese travellers (27%) use social media to help them make decisions on holiday destinations, with this figure rising to 33% among younger travellers under 35.

"These insights highlight the need for hoteliers to adapt their marketing strategies, with a particular focus on online and social media channels, to attract Chinese travellers," Svanstrom said.

"In addition, programmes being implemented by many governments and tourism authorities to attract and facilitate for Chinese travellers are a positive step in the right direction, but the pace of growth in the volume of Chinese travellers appears to be outstripping the pace of change in the hotel industry."