‘Lanka follows China’s leap forward example in tourism development’

BOUNCE: Abacus company’s President and CEO Don Birch says that as Asia’s major economic power, China has climbed from fifth to fourth place in the World Tourism Organisation’s rankings since 2002, with tourism accounting for over 5% of its GDP in 2005 or 5.5% of the world’s total travel and tourism industry.

Sri Lanka too have identified the importance of this market and have launched direct flights and series of promotions to woo more Chinese tourists.

“The Chinese have been busy exploring both their mammoth country and venturing overseas, and more people are visiting China for various other reasons,” Birch said. At the end of 2005, an estimated 22% of the population were ‘middle class’ households with annual incomes ranging between US$3,229 and US$12,917.

In the four years from 2001 to 2005, the number of domestic passengers increased by more than 50% from 750 million to 1.2 billion. Outbound travel recorded a compound average growth rate of nearly 25%, leaping from 12.1 to 31 million travellers, making it the fifth-largest outbound market in the world.

“We expect China to be the fastest growing outbound tourism market over the next fifteen years, outpacing even the UK and the US, with more than 110 million trips in 2020, as more destinations are added to the current 81 countries which enjoy Approved Destination Status (ADS),” Birch added.

MasterCard’s 10-year forecast of outbound travellers from Asia projects that by 2014, travellers from the retired segment will account for only 13.5% of China’s total outbound travel figures, but they will command almost 45% of total spending.

According to China’s National Statistics Bureau, the Chinese population of retirees is expected to reach 81 million by 2015.

“Considering that Chinese travellers currently spend an average of US$1,000 a day, we can expect future spending by ‘grey’ tourists to be worth much more, presenting a significant market opportunity for the region’s travel and tourism industry,” commented Birch.

The growth story is not confined to domestic and outbound travel.

Of the 31.03 million outbound travellers in 2005 (up 7.5% from 2004) 19% were traveling for Government and business purposes, and the remaining 81% for private and leisure purposes.

“With China’s economy forecast to grow by 9.6% and 8.7% this year and next, neighbouring Asian countries will have to be ready themselves for an influx of Chinese tourists, many of whom will be first-time travellers venturing outside of China for the first time,” said Birch. (WTO News)