Society

Chinese travelers changing world tourism landscape

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-06-01 16:50

Insatiable Appetite for Luxuries

Also according to the CTA report, Chinese are not only making more overseas trips, but are also spending a lot more in foreign countries than they did in the early days when China adopted its opening-up policy in 1979.

More than a quarter of Chinese outbound tourists (26.85 percent) say shopping takes up the largest share of their expenditure, the CTA said.

In 2011, Chinese travelers are expected to spend a record high of $55 billion on their overseas trips, boosted partly by an appreciating Chinese currency, the CTA said.

Chinese tourists buy almost everything, from Rolex watches to formula milk powder. Paris and China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region are among the top shopping destinations for Chinese tourists.

The Avenue des Champs-Elysees, Paris' high street, is a shopping paradise for independent Chinese tourists, while Galeries Lafayette and Printemps department stores are also quite popular among them.

Luxury stores on the Avenue des Champs-Elysees have followed the example of Galeries Lafayette by employing Mandarin speakers. Even the wool product brand Eric Bompard, which is little known in China, has a Chinese-speaking sales assistant in its shop close to the Avenue des Champs-Elysees.

According to a recent report published by Global Blue Group, a Switzerland-based tax-refund and shopping service provider that was  formerly known as Global Refund Group, Chinese have been the biggest overseas shoppers in France for years.

Chinese travelers spent 650 million euros ($937.8 million) on duty-free shopping in France in 2010, accounting for 22 percent of the total of such spending by foreigners in France, it said.

The average per capita spending of Chinese tourists in France was 1,300 euros ($1,875.6) in 2010, much higher than that of Americans (880 euros or $1,269.7) or Japanese (850 euros or $1,226.4).

It is generally believed that Chinese tourists are lured by comparatively low prices of brand-name products in Western countries, guaranteed quality and better services.

In the Louis Vuitton (LV) store at Hollywood's Kodak Theater, a Chinese tourist from Shanghai was selecting her favorites.

"There is an LV store in Shanghai, but there are more varieties here," she told a Xinhua reporter, but declined to tell her name.

"I will buy several LV bags before I head back to China. People in China like this brand, and it is much cheaper here," she said.

Golden Yuan, founder and president of the Perfect Trans & Travel Service in Los Angeles, told Xinhua that brand-name products like LV and Coach are on the "must buy" list for many tourists from China.

"Those who have the money to tour the US want brand-name products such as LV and Coach; at least they will go to Macy's or JCPenny to look for high quality products," Yuan said.

However, shopping for brand-name products in their places of origin is not something unique to Chinese tourists, Roll of the Paris Office du Tourisme et des Congres said.

"When the French went to the United States 25 years ago, they bought jeans, because they thought they were genuine even though in France they were of the same material. It's human nature," Roll said.

Chinese tourists Undergo Change

Yuan, who has been in the business since 1990, witnessed the great changes in Chinese tourists over the past 20 years.

He said that 10 years ago, most of the travelers from China were government officials or people from state-owned companies, but now most of the visitors are in the private sector.

As more individual citizens are traveling abroad, the tourism model is also changing.

Wang Jia and her fiance have recently enjoyed a two-week "romance tour" in Europe. They, together with more than 30 other Chinese couples, were married at a grand Western-style wedding ceremony in the Neuschwanstein Castle in southern Germany.

Zhou Jianfang, who began to receive Chinese tourists in France since 1997, has noted that Chinese travelers have begun to slow down in their tours.

"In the past, Chinese tourists were running like in a military training. They wanted to see more places in a limited period of time. Now, they have begun to slow down and stay longer in one place," Zhou said.

Roll had similar experiences. "I don't think travelers have changed that much, but we have a new type of travelers ... we just have essentially a new group of travelers who are more mature," he told Xinhua.

People in the travel service industry also believe that Chinese tourists have started to change some of their notorious habits.

"In the past, they would shout to each other across the street, but today they are more polite, talk quieter, and know how to carry themselves in public," said Narin Ruengwongsa of the Professional Guide Association of Thailand.

Zhou still remembered his horrible experiences with a group of Chinese tourists in a German hotel several years ago. Members of the group jostled for buttons in a hotel lift, resulting in skin contact with a guest from another country. The Chinese were accused of harassment.

Another tourist of that same group was demanded to compensate the hotel for spilling too much water on the bathroom floor and damaging the room downstairs.

Zhou noted the situation is getting much better as Chinese tourists have become familiar with the culture and customs of destination countries.

Roll believed that Chinese tourists will learn. "You must not forget, when French travelers went for the first time overseas in the 1950s, they behaved just like the first-time travelers of China," he said.

"I refuse to say Chinese travelers are different from other travelers. For everyone that leaves their country for the first time, anything is a surprise," he said.

Thanks to Chinese travelers, many places which are seldom visited have now attracted large groups of Chinese tourists. It is especially true of the sites which are related to Chinese history.

For example, Karl Marx's former residence in Trier, Germany, is one of the spots where Chinese travelers must go when visiting Luxembourg and neighboring regions. Chinese tourists pour into the tiny town all year round.

At the Grand Place in downtown Brussels, Belgium, dozens of Chinese tourists were busy taking pictures in front of the cafe-restaurant where Karl Marx, together with Friedrich Engels, wrote the Communist Manifesto, a landmark document for the world's Communist movement.

New workers of the restaurant are puzzled why the Chinese visitors are so eager to visit the old and homely restaurant, but manager Antonio Lopez knew the reason and was proud of it.

"I know we are very famous in China, and each year numerous Chinese tourists visit the restaurant," Lopez said.

To cater to the Chinese tourists, Montargis, a small town some 100 km to the south of Paris, designed a special tour route. It brings Chinese travelers to places where Chinese leaders like Deng Xiaoping and Cai Hesen used to work and live in the early 1920s.

As more and more Chinese tourists travel abroad, they will one day be like many of their foreign peers -- traveling around the world with a stuffed backpack, and armed with numerous guides, not only for sightseeing, but also for local culture and customs.