PATA and Sharjah Commerce Tourism Development Authority boost industry understanding

These statistics were revealed at a tourism seminar held in Sharjah on 26 November.

Hosted under the patronage of the Sharjah Commerce and Tourism Development Authority (SCTDA) in association with the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), the seminar saw the region's senior representatives of tourism, travel and accommodation attend, including Sharjah hoteliers, flight facility directors, tour operators and travel agents.

Key market information was presented by The Nielsen Company, a global information and media organisation that provides measurement and analysis of marketplace dynamics and consumer attitudes and behaviour.

Associate Director of The Nielsen Company, Tarun Panda, highlighted some interesting statistics regarding the Chinese outbound travel market, extracted from a recent study in which 26 cities in China were surveyed on their outbound travel preferences and expenditure.

"China's outbound travel market has evolved much faster than any other Asian outbound markets," said Panda. "The report, which PATA and Nielsen co-branded 'Chinese Outbound Travel Monitor' shows that China holds a growing economy with disposable income, and that spending money on leisure, shopping and travel has becoming more widely accepted. China features a changing lifestyle, as well as changing consumption patterns and values, and the information revealed through the survey can prove very valuable to those wanting to better understand and cater to this emerging travel market."

Panda's sentiments were echoed by PATA's Regional Director for the Gulf, Nicki Page, who said that in presenting the seminar, the Pacific Asia Travel Association hoped to provide Sharjah's hospitality and tourism sectors with a better insight to not only attracting travel from China, but ensuring that visitors returned.

"PATA is keen to expose our local tour operators, hoteliers, flight facilities and travel agents to new and useful information that could lead to benefitting both regions in terms of travel and leisure," said Page.

"China's outbound travel market is just waiting to be introduced to the fascinating experience that Gulf travel provides. And by better knowing the travel sector, Sharjah can attract more visitors and cater to their exact needs and preferences, ensuring visitor-return to the region."

In his presentation, Panda revealed that although the most popular destinations for Chinese travellers were still in Asia because of geographic proximity, the number of trips to Europe and North America were increasing rapidly, particularly those related to business travel.

The top destinations for next 12 months were pointed out as Hong Kong, France, Macau and Singapore (tied for third).

The report also noted that destinations were becoming more and more competitive in relation to each other to attract Chinese travelers.

Results further revealed that vacation or leisure purposes took the lead in reasons for China's outbound travel, followed by business travel.

Travel for reasons such as studying and immigration or settling down abroad were at the lowest end of the scale.

When it came to researching travel, the worldwide web prevailed.

Seventy percent of those questioned utilised internet destination information, while 62% used internet online travel discussion forums.

Travel agencies still came in at a popular 60%, and more than 80% of people said that they conducted a search of information about their destination(s) prior to taking the trip.

Conventional travel agents still took the lead when it came to booking travel.

However, booking online is becoming more popular.

People utilising travel agents totaled 58%, while 32% of those surveyed made use of internet booking, and a further 17% used hotel websites.

The report revealed that despite a more progressive outlook towards travel, China still showed large differences by region and socio-economic status.

In addition, it pointed out that the Chinese Government still takes a keen interest and is involved in the outbound travel sector, especially pertaining to service quality and consumer complaints.