Although the total number of trips that Chinese tourists made to Europe increased nominally year-on-year, “dark horse” destinations like Croatia, Latvia in the east, and Denmark in the north saw increases of up to 540%.
A recent Europe Travel Report for the first six months of 2019 by China Travel Academy and Ctrip, said Chinese tourists made 3 million trips to Europe, registering a 7.4% year-on-year increase.
However, the top 10 “dark horse” destinations saw huge jumps in numbers of Chinese visitors over the same period. These include Croatia (540%), Latvia (523%), Slovenia (497%), Bulgaria (459%), Estonia (321%), Albania (321%), Serbia (295%), Malta (281%), Ireland (220%), and Denmark (212%).
Although recorded from smaller base numbers, these dramatic increases have no doubt been helped by the easing of entry restrictions to some of these less-visited countries.
The figures also validate earlier reports (Dragon Social) that noted Chinese tourists have now “a more open mind and want local experiences (61%), whether it’s taking in local culture and art or visiting niche destinations”.
Other notable statistics from the report:
- The top 10 departure cities were Shanghai, Beijing, Chengdu, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Kunming, Xian, Nanjing, Wuhan.
- Of those who travelled, 62.9% were female.
- Travellers born in the 1950s and 1960s constituted more than 50%, while those born in the 1970s made up 12.7% of total travellers.
- The average spend per person for group tours to Europe was about RMB11920.7 (USD1,688).
- About 70% of travel to Europe was done on group tours.
- Customised travel to Europe went up 315% compared to the same period last year, showing an increasing interest in in-depth travel to Europe.
