Chinese are world’s biggest travel spenders

According to the second annual Chinese International Travel Monitor released Wednesday by hotel booking website Hotels.com, China has now overtaken the US and Germany to become the world's biggest travel spenders. The survey was conducted among 3,000 international Chinese travelers and 1,500 hoteliers around the world over May-June 2013. It found that Chinese travelers spent US$102 billion on international travel an increase of 40% from 2012, making them bigger spenders that both Germany and the USA. In addition, 75 percent of the hoteliers reported that Chinese travelers accounted for up to five percent of their business and 45 percent of hoteliers reported that over the previous year they experienced an upsurge in the number of Chinese guests. The greatest increase in the number of Chinese tourists in terms of area was seen in the Asia-Pacific region. The survey also found some interesting trends among the Chinese travelers themselves. Of those surveyed, 62 percent of Chinese travelers reported that they preferred to travel independently, rather than in a group; this represents a growing trend as previously in 2012 the split between a desire to travel in a group or as an individual was much more evenly divided. Leisure was the primary reason why Chinese were traveling, with 96 percent reporting they did so for leisure, although Chinese travelers did have some complaints. The biggest issue Chinese travelers had was with the provision of translated materials, such as "welcome literature," websites and newspapers from hoteliers, with 75 percent of Chinese travelers surveyed stating that this was an area that needed improvement. Language was also an issue among hotel staff, with 42 percent stating that they "would like more Mandarin speaking staff in hotels."