CHINA / Foreign Media on China
Chinese travel is taking off
By Howard W. French (The New York Times)
Updated: 2006-05-17 10:58
BANGKOK The way it began, as passengers piled onto the boat while a
buffet was laid out on the deck, with easy- listening tunes like "Moon
River" oozing from the loudspeakers, it could have been just about any
Bangkok sundown cruise.
But this one was unmistakably different. Before the boat even left the
dock the food disappeared, right down to the last slice of watermelon - a
Chinese favorite. Then the Western standards were quickly replaced with
recent Chinese hits. And within minutes, the passengers, all of whom were
Chinese, were singing along.
Any doubts that this is a new day in Bangkok tourism were put aside as
the ship set off under an exploding sunset down the Chao Phraya River,
which runs through the city.
Every few minutes when the boat encountered another laden with Chinese
tourists - and there were many - the passengers hailed each other
cheerfully.
For the first time, large numbers of Chinese are leaving their country as
tourists, resulting in an unprecedented explosion in Chinese travel. And
if current projections are met, the global tourism industry will be
undergoing a crash course in everything Chinese to meet the needs of what
promises to be the greatest wave of international travelers ever.
As usual when something goes over big in China, the numbers are
staggering. In 1995, only 4.5 million Chinese traveled overseas. By 2005,
that figure had increased to 31 million, and if expectations for future
growth are met or approached, even this gargantuan growth will be quickly
dwarfed. Both Chinese and international travel industry experts forecast
that at least 50 million Chinese tourists will travel overseas annually
by 2010 and 100 million by 2020.
In 2004, the last year for which there is complete information, 61.7
million Americans traveled abroad.
"They are latecomers on the tourism scene but they have come on in a big
way," said Xu Jing, the Madrid-based director of Asia and Pacific affairs
at the World Tourism Organization, an agency of the United Nations. "The
growth in Chinese outbound travel in the last five years has been the
highest in the world - in the range of 37 or 38 percent a year."
The last nation to burst on the world travel scene with similar speed and
force was Japan, which was enjoying an explosion of prosperity in the
1980s. Suddenly, Japanese could be seen everywhere, especially groups of
middle-aged tourists wearing caps and brandishing the latest camera gear,
and led, inevitably, by a Japanese tour guide hoisting a flag so that
people would not get lost.
The industry responded by placing Japanese-style slippers and bathrobes
in hotel rooms, along with Japanese language television channels in their
rooms. Japanese-speaking staff members also became obligatory at certain
hotels and upscale shops. All that for roughly 17 million overseas visits.
As recently as the late 1980s, all but the Chinese elite were expressly
forbidden from traveling overseas. But by 2003, China's overseas
travelers had already surpassed Japan's, placing it squarely among the
world's leading travel nations. Ultimately, travel experts say, the
Chinese impact on world tourism stands to be even bigger.
The six most popular destinations for the Chinese are Japan, Vietnam,
South Korea, Russia, Thailand and the United States. Patterns that took
years to develop during the Japanese wave are already falling into place
in many of these countries, with hotels, restaurants, airports and shops
beginning to cater to their needs with special Chinese language services,
bank ATMs and menus oriented toward Chinese tastes.
As fast as this growth is, some in the Chinese travel industry warn that
the world is not adapting fast enough.
"China is the latest and greatest market, but if other countries don't
take cultural differences into account it will hinder our joint efforts
to develop it," said Wang Ping, president of the Chinese Chamber of
Tourism Commerce.
Wang said that while Europe was adjusting rapidly to Chinese needs, North
America was not, and hotels and other places frequented by tourists
failed to provide Chinese food or language aids.
By no means is all of the adjustment on the side of the receiving
nations. Chinese tourists have been fined heavily in France recently for
arriving with counterfeit luxury goods, like fake Louis Vuitton handbags.
In Shanghai and other cities, travel agencies post people at airports
warning Chinese travelers about penalties for importing fakes and
imparting advice on etiquette in the West.
"Don't pick teeth, touch your belt, pull at your pants or take off your
shoes in public," reads one common brochure.
BANGKOK The way it began, as passengers piled onto the boat while a
buffet was laid out on the deck, with easy- listening tunes like "Moon
River" oozing from the loudspeakers, it could have been just about any
Bangkok sundown cruise.
But this one was unmistakably different. Before the boat even left the
dock the food disappeared, right down to the last slice of watermelon - a
Chinese favorite. Then the Western standards were quickly replaced with
recent Chinese hits. And within minutes, the passengers, all of whom were
Chinese, were singing along.
Any doubts that this is a new day in Bangkok tourism were put aside as
the ship set off under an exploding sunset down the Chao Phraya River,
which runs through the city.
Every few minutes when the boat encountered another laden with Chinese
tourists - and there were many - the passengers hailed each other
cheerfully.
For the first time, large numbers of Chinese are leaving their country as
tourists, resulting in an unprecedented explosion in Chinese travel. And
if current projections are met, the global tourism industry will be
undergoing a crash course in everything Chinese to meet the needs of what
promises to be the greatest wave of international travelers ever.
As usual when something goes over big in China, the numbers are
staggering. In 1995, only 4.5 million Chinese traveled overseas. By 2005,
that figure had increased to 31 million, and if expectations for future
growth are met or approached, even this gargantuan growth will be quickly
dwarfed. Both Chinese and international travel industry experts forecast
that at least 50 million Chinese tourists will travel overseas annually
by 2010 and 100 million by 2020.
In 2004, the last year for which there is complete information, 61.7
million Americans traveled abroad.
"They are latecomers on the tourism scene but they have come on in a big
way," said Xu Jing, the Madrid-based director of Asia and Pacific affairs
at the World Tourism Organization, an agency of the United Nations. "The
growth in Chinese outbound travel in the last five years has been the
highest in the world - in the range of 37 or 38 percent a year."
The last nation to burst on the world travel scene with similar speed and
force was Japan, which was enjoying an explosion of prosperity in the
1980s. Suddenly, Japanese could be seen everywhere, especially groups of
middle-aged tourists wearing caps and brandishing the latest camera gear,
and led, inevitably, by a Japanese tour guide hoisting a flag so that
people would not get lost.
The industry responded by placing Japanese-style slippers and bathrobes
in hotel rooms, along with Japanese language television channels in their
rooms. Japanese-speaking staff members also became obligatory at certain
hotels and upscale shops. All that for roughly 17 million overseas visits.
As recently as the late 1980s, all but the Chinese elite were expressly
forbidden from traveling overseas. But by 2003, China's overseas
travelers had already surpassed Japan's, placing it squarely among the
world's leading travel nations. Ultimately, travel experts say, the
Chinese impact on world tourism stands to be even bigger.
The six most popular destinations for the Chinese are Japan, Vietnam,
South Korea, Russia, Thailand and the United States. Patterns that took
years to develop during the Japanese wave are already falling into place
in many of these countries, with hotels, restaurants, airports and shops
beginning to cater to their needs with special Chinese language services,
bank ATMs and menus oriented toward Chinese tastes.
As fast as this growth is, some in the Chinese travel industry warn that
the world is not adapting fast enough.
"China is the latest and greatest market, but if other countries don't
take cultural differences into account it will hinder our joint efforts
to develop it," said Wang Ping, president of the Chinese Chamber of
Tourism Commerce.
Wang said that while Europe was adjusting rapidly to Chinese needs, North
America was not, and hotels and other places frequented by tourists
failed to provide Chinese food or language aids.
By no means is all of the adjustment on the side of the receiving
nations. Chinese tourists have been fined heavily in France recently for
arriving with counterfeit luxury goods, like fake Louis Vuitton handbags.
In Shanghai and other cities, travel agencies post people at airports
warning Chinese travelers about penalties for importing fakes and
imparting advice on etiquette in the West.
"Don't pick teeth, touch your belt, pull at your pants or take off your
shoes in public," reads one common brochure.
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