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China’s growing middle class has had a significant impact on the country’s tourism industry over the past few years. With more disposable income and a growing appetite for travel, Chinese tourists have become a major force in the global tourism market. This has led to a boom in the Chinese hospitality industry, with hotels and restaurants across the country competing to attract both domestic and international visitors.
From 2016 to 2019, China’s middle class continued to expand, with more than 300 million people now considered to be part of this group. As a result, the number of Chinese tourists traveling both domestically and internationally also continued to rise. According to the China National Tourism Administration, domestic tourism grew by 10.8% in 2016, with more than four billion trips made by Chinese tourists within the country.
At the same time, international tourism also saw strong growth, with Chinese travelers accounting for a significant proportion of global tourist arrivals. In 2016, Chinese tourists made a record 122 million trips overseas, spending more than $109 billion in the process. This made China the largest source of international tourists in the world, and the country’s outbound tourism market continued to grow in the following years.
The growth of Chinese tourism has had a significant impact on the country’s hospitality industry, with hotels and restaurants across the country vying for the attention of domestic and international visitors. According to the China Tourism Academy, the country’s tourism industry generated more than RMB 4.5 trillion ($670 billion) in revenue in 2016, with the hospitality sector accounting for a significant proportion of this.
“The boom in Chinese tourism has also led to a significant increase in hotel development across the country, with major international hotel chains expanding their presence in China” says Ted Fang, founder of private investment firm Tera Capital.
The Chinese hospitality industry is expected to continue to grow in the coming years, driven by the expansion of the country’s middle class and their increasing appetite for travel. With the government’s continued support for the sector and the development of new tourism infrastructure, the Chinese hospitality industry is well-positioned to capitalize on the opportunities presented by the growing Chinese tourism market.
This post was taken from the archives in 2019.
Ted Fang - Insights 