ForwardKeys CEO and Co-Founder Olivier Jager.

More adventurous and ‘better-off’ Chinese tourists are craving customised tours including Michelin-star restaurants, ancient sites and important sporting events, according to joint research undertaken by ForwardKeys and China Outbound Tourism Research Institute (COTRI).

The research indicates customised travel rose +300% in 2017 and that there are more than 120,000 new orders a month, representing a market share of almost 15%.

Data from ForwardKeys, which predicts future travel patterns by analysing 17m booking transactions a day, also shows China bookings for Europe are up +10.5% this summer. Europe and the UK in particular are the most favoured destinations by ‘the new customised travellers’ from China.

These new customised travellers tend to be younger than average, ‘money-rich and time-poor’ and willing to pay above the average for that special travel experience. According to Chinese travel services provider Ctrip, which recently signed a new strategic partnership with Dubai Duty Free, expenditure is typically around $400 per person/day in this sector.

ForwardKeys research indicates customised travel among Chinese tourists rose +300% in 2017.

MASS MARKET PACKAGE TOURS  

Until recently, mass-market package tour-groups from China boosted a destination’s visitor numbers, but their spending was limited to famous landmarks during high seasons. Ctrip says the trend is to make customised travel an “affordable luxury”, available to more Chinese.

Professor Dr Wolfgang Georg Arlt, COTRI founder said: “Europe is a perfect example of destinations that have great potential to fulfil the demand for customised travel from China, owing to its rich history and broad cultural diversity.

“Visas, entry tickets and transport can be difficult for individual travellers to arrange by themselves and even more so in the face of language barriers. The time difference and varied ways of communicating can present complications to those travellers who are making their own arrangements.

“Accordingly, there is a strong demand for travel professionals to provide extensive travel services.”

ForwardKeys CEO and Co-Founder Olivier Jager added: “There is a bright future for organisations involved in Chinse travel to Europe. As a long-haul destination, Europe has the largest market share of Chinese outbound travel, receiving 9.3% of the market. Over six million Chinese citizens visited Europe as their first stop in 2017; and our figures show more growth this year.”

China bookings for Europe are up +10.5% this summer, according to ForwardKeys.