中國人海外度假風潮見漲

With growing wealth and a big population, the country is becoming the world's most important market for outbound travel.

26-year-old Xie Jiting, who hails from Xi'an, the capital of Northwest China's Shaanxi province, moved her vacation in Thailand to November, two months ahead of her original plan.

Xie said she wanted to beat the crowds that might rush to Thailand if a bilateral visa-exemption policy was introduced.

"I don't like the crowds at tourist sites," Xie said, even though she acknowledged that visa-free visits are convenient for solo travelers.

Xie has taken one or two overseas vacations each year since she started to work in 2007.

It's Chinese citizens like Xie who are supporting the breakneck rise of the nation's outbound tourism.

In the first three quarters of 2013, the number of outbound trips rose 18 percent to 72.55 million, according to the China Tourism Academy, a research institution under the China National Tourism Administration.

The CTA forecast the full-year number of outbound trips at 98 million.

"The number will be very close to 100 million this year, and it can be expected to break the 100-million mark in 2014," said Jiang Yiyi, director of the CTA's international tourism development division.

Chinese outbound tourism has grown by an annual average of 20 percent in recent years, driven by the nation's economic development, Jiang said.

"Nothing will stop the fast growth of outbound tourism, as long as the economy keeps growing," she said.

China remains the most important emerging economy for the global travel and tourism industry, according to the World Travel Market Industry Report for 2013, which was released on Monday.

"China is still dominating the headlines, and its economic success continues to be reflected by the level of interest from the global travel industry," said Simon Press, Reed Travel Exhibitions' director of World Travel Market. Reed Travel is a division of Reed Elsevier Plc.

Summer heats up

Chinese travel agencies have been having busy summers. And Dai Bin, head of the CTA, said that overseas spending by Chinese tourists was 10 times higher than domestic tourists' spending last year.

The third quarter is a traditional peak season for tourism, and the number of travelers has doubled at that time during the past several years, said Zhang Lei, general manager of Utour International Travel Service Co Ltd.

Chinese families are becoming used to taking vacations abroad, and parents usually use their annual leave in the summer to travel with their children, he said.

Travel agencies also promote family-oriented tours during the season.

Themed vacations, such as those featuring visits to famous universities, museums and amusement parks, accounted for about 70 percent of Utour's products in the third quarter, Zhang said.

The travel agency is very optimistic about its business for 2013. "This year's outbound tourism will have faster growth than last year for sure, although the exact number isn't clear yet," Zhang said.

The nation's outbound tourism market is becoming more diversified, offering something for almost any age or income, he said.

More travelers

Encouraging developments on the visa front might mean even more overseas trips. Zhang noted that getting a visa is a key hurdle for many Chinese outbound travelers.

Mauritius, the island country in Africa, began offering a visa exemption for Chinese travelers at end-October. China and Thailand are also talking about bilateral visa exemptions for tourists.

The United Kingdom announced an easier visa application process for Chinese travelers this month.

"Many Chinese travelers will be encouraged by the easier visa application to the UK," said Christopher Rodrigues, chairman of Visit Britain, the UK's national tourism agency.

Chinese travel agencies and airlines have already started to prepare for the new business that will be generated by these moves.

Ctrip, the largest online travel agency in China, will add new offerings for Thailand when the visa-free policy takes effect, said Pu Yue, production manager of Ctrip's tourism department.

It's already relatively easy to get a Thai tourist visa, Pu noted. But even if there's no explosion in visitor numbers, "more independent travelers will visit the country, if they do not need to apply for a visa," she said.

She estimated that more than 20,000 Chinese travelers will visit Thailand through Ctrip this year, as Thailand is Chinese travelers' first choice in Southeast Asia.

Domestic and foreign airlines are expanding their routes to handle the increase in tourism.

During the coming winter-spring season, 23 new international routes will be added in China. Some of the new services will be medium- and long-haul routes, the Civil Aviation Administration of China said.

"According to our experience, the visa-free policy will definitely push up the passenger flows," said Ding Yue, a spokesman of Air China Ltd.

Changes in visa policies won't affect the carrier's flight schedules in the short term, as adding new routes is a very complicated process. But Air China will launch a non-stop route between Beijing and Chiang Mai, Thailand, on Thursday, offering three flights weekly.

The new route is a result of "huge demand" by international travelers, Ding said.

Thai Airways International Public Co Ltd added the Chinese cities of Chongqing, and Changsha, Hunan province, to its network on Oct 27, taking its destinations in China to eight.隨着財富的增長，擁有巨大人口的中國正日益成爲世界上最重要的出境旅遊市場。

謝吉婷（音），26歲，來自中國西北的一個城市——陝西西安，將自己的泰國假期移到了11月份，比原定計劃提前了兩個月。

謝說，她想要避開因實施雙邊免籤而有可能涌入泰國的巨大人羣。

“我不喜歡旅遊景點有太多人，”謝說，即使她知道免簽證旅遊對獨行客來說非常方便。

自2007年參加工作以來謝吉婷每年都會去海外旅遊一兩次。

正是像謝吉婷這樣的中國公民促進了中國境外旅遊市場的飛速發展。

根據中國國家旅遊局下屬研究機構中國旅遊研究院報告，2013年前三個季度，中國的境外出行率上升了18個百分點，達到了7255萬人次。

中國旅遊研究院預測全年的境外旅遊人次將達到9800萬人次。

“今年的出境人數接近1億人次，2014年有望超過1億人次大關，”中國旅遊研究院國際所所長蔣依依說。

受國家經濟發展的推動，最近幾年，中國的境外旅遊以年均20%的增長率飛速發展。

“只要經濟持續增長，任何事物都無法阻擋境外旅遊的飛速發展。”

根據週一發佈的《2013世界工業旅遊市場報告》，中國仍然是發展國際旅遊業的最重要的新型經濟體。

“中國仍然佔據主要位置，國民對出境旅遊的興趣不斷加深，也反映了中國經濟的成功，”勵展旅遊展覽集團國際旅遊市場部總監西蒙·普瑞斯說道。勵展旅遊是勵德艾斯維爾集團的分公司。

不斷升溫的夏季旅遊市場

中國的旅遊機構度過了一個繁忙的夏天。中國旅遊研究院院長戴斌說，去年中國遊客在海外的花費是在國內花費的十倍。

“第三季度是傳統的旅遊旺季，過去的幾年，同時段的遊客數量已經翻了一倍，”衆信國際旅行社股份有限公司總經理張磊說。

張磊還告訴我們，中國家庭已經逐漸習慣去國外度假，父母通常在暑期休年假，以便和孩子一同出遊。

在旺季，旅行社也會推出以“家庭”爲主題的旅遊。

主題度假，例如著名大學遊、博物館和主題公園遊佔到了衆信旅遊公司第三季度旅遊產品的70%。

公司對2013年度的行業前景非常樂觀：“儘管目前還不清楚具體的數據是多少，但可以確信，今年的出境旅遊增長率比去年還要高”。

中國的出境旅遊市場變得越來越多元化，各收入階層和年齡階層都能找到適合自己的產品。

更多的旅遊者

鼓勵免籤意味着更多的出境旅遊。張磊注意到，對於國內許多的出境遊客而言，取得簽證是最大的障礙。

非洲島國毛里求斯從十月末開始向中國遊客提供免籤服務。中國和泰國也在就雙方遊客免籤進行談判。

英國本月也宣佈簡化中國遊客的簽證申請過程。

英國國家旅遊局局長克里斯多夫·羅德里格斯說：“更簡便的簽證申請流程將會促使更多的中國遊客來英旅遊。”

英國旅遊局的舉動，促使中國的旅行社和航空公司開始爲即將到來的新生意作準備。

攜程旅行網，中國最大的網上旅行社，將在免籤政策生效之際提供有關去泰國的旅遊服務，攜程網旅遊部產品經理蒲月（音譯）這樣告訴記者。

她補充說道：“即使旅遊人數沒有爆炸性增長，獲取泰國的旅遊簽證也是相對比較容易的。如果不需要辦簽證，到泰國旅遊的獨行客會更多。”

蒲月估計，今年通過攜程旅行網預定泰國旅遊的遊客數量將達到2萬人次，泰國是中國遊客東南亞之旅的首選目的地。

國內和國外的航空公司也正在開發新的航線，以滿足不斷擴大的旅遊需求。

據中國民航總局消息，今年冬春兩季，中國將會增加23條新的國際航線，其中一些是中途或長途航線。

中國國際航空公司發言人丁躍(音)說：“根據我們的經驗，免籤政策肯定會促進顧客流量的增加。”

短期之內，簽證政策的變動不會影響航空公司的運載安排，因爲增加新的航線是一個非常複雜的過程，但中國國際航空公司週二起將會增加一條北京至清邁的航線，一週三次直飛。

丁說，對出境遊的巨大需求催生了這條新的航線。

10月27日，泰國航空增加了飛往重慶、湖南長沙的航班，這樣一來，泰國直飛中國城市的數達到了8個。