The Chinese mainland is expected to record 21.6 million outbound
tourists in the first half of 2008 with a year-on-year increase of
12.4 percent, according to a report issued by MasterCard
Worldwide.
Friday's China Youth Daily quoted the report as saying that the
Chinese mainland will lead the whole Asian-Pacific outbound travel
market in the first six months this year.
According to the latest MasterCard Worldwide Index of Travel
(MWIT), Asian-Pacific outbound markets will continue to be buoyant
with more individual and business journeys in the first half of
2008 despite the economic uncertainty in the global financial
market.
The market will see 79.5 million outbound tourists in the next
six months, with over one quarter from the Chinese mainland, the
report said.
It attributed the booming outbound travel market to the
increasing number of middle-class Chinese.
The number of China's middle-class families would rise to 100
million in 2016 from 35 million in 2006 in such metropolises as
Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, it said.
"This, combined with the availability of low cost travel
options, means Chinese travelers form a very influential group
which is expected to continue to significantly shape trends in the
travel business in 2008 and in years to come," said Dr. Hedrick
Wong, economic advisor to MasterCard Worldwide in Asia Pacific.
China's Ministry of Tourism said early January that it recorded
40.95 million outbound tourists last year.
The country is undergoing its biggest festival season, the
seven-day Spring Festival holidays.
A joint on-line survey by market information provider Nielson
and Ctrip.com, a domestic tourism website, said that about 60
percent of Chinese netizens whose family monthly income tops 8,000
yuan (1,095 U.S. dollars) plan to go traveling during the Spring
Festival and 11 percent of them want to travel abroad.
MasterCard, one of the world largest credit bodies, issues the
report twice a year with surveys on individual and business travel
in 13 markets in Asia Pacific.
(Xinhua News Agency February 8, 2008)
