The report, titled Outbound Travel Flying High, surveyed 39 Chinese travel agencies and 1227 middle income consumers. Destinations that were top of the list for those surveyed were France followed by the UK, Italy and Germany. The survey also revealed that 90 per cent of those surveyed chose a European destination as their dream holiday location.
According to the survey, the main reason people wanted to travel to European destinations was for luxury goods. Chinese tourists want to visit destinations like Paris to buy French luxury brands such as Channel, Dior and Louis Vuitton. Speaking on the demand for luxury goods in China, Kyle Wang, chief representative from South West China at the China-Britain Business Council said “luxury goods are an incredible area for growth in Chengdu. Sichuan has a population of 100 million so even if only 5 percent spend vastly on luxury products in Chengdu that is a significant amount.”
According to the report, 48 per cent of Chinese tourists’ spending on international trips went on shopping last year. Additionally, around 21 million outbound tourists from China spent an average of £4,683 per trip in 2012.
Other countries outside of Europe that made it onto the destination list for 2013 were Hong Kong, Japan, the US, Singapore and South Korea.
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