China World’s Biggest Travel Spender, Hotels.com Reports

Chinese travelers spent $102 billion on international travel in 2012, an increase of 40 percent from 2011 and enough to unseat the United States and Germany as the world’s biggest travel spenders, according to Hotels.com, which this week published its second annual Chinese International Travel Monitor (CITM).

Based on a survey of more than 3,000 Chinese international travelers and more than 1,500 hoteliers worldwide, this year’s CITM report found that Chinese travelers now account for up to 5 percent of business for 75 percent of global hoteliers, nearly half of which (45 percent) say they’ve experienced an increase in Chinese guests over the past year.

Of interest to meeting professionals are the following findings:

• The majority of overseas Chinese travel (96 percent) has been for leisure purposes, although just over half (52 percent) have also visited other countries for business or education.

• Nearly two thirds (62 percent) of Chinese travelers say they prefer to travel independently and not as part of a group. Likewise, hoteliers say 70 percent of Chinese guests now travel independently.

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