Increasing Numbers of Wealthy Chinese Traveling abroad

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, October 05, 2002

Increasing Numbers of Wealthy Chinese Traveling abroad

Twenty-five year old Qiu Fei and her boyfriend flew from Beijing to Seoul during the National Day holiday. They plan to spend three days in Seoul before continuing their vacation in Viet Nam.

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Twenty-five year old Qiu Fei and her boyfriend flew from Beijing to Seoul during the National Day holiday. They plan to spend three days in Seoul before continuing their vacation in Viet Nam.

Qiu is among tens of millions of wealthy Chinese residents who are increasingly traveling abroad to spend their vacations. During the triple Spring Festival / Labor Day /National Day 7-day break, Chinese tourists may be surprised at how often they bump into their compatriots, whether it be in Australia, Egypt or Thailand.

Lin Yu, a freight company employee, wanted very much to visit Egypt, but when he called to reserve a few days later, he found all flights booked.

"I could not believe that international airlines could be so popular during the holidays. I think I should book my Spring Festival flight immediately after National Day," he said.

Meanwhile, airlines are attempting to expand flights to meet rising consumer demand. At the beginning of September, Finnair added a fifth weekly flight from Beijing to Finland. On October 29,Lufthansa will add its 11th weekly flight from Shanghai to Germany.Seats on Austrian Airlines were sold out at the beginning of October.

"We do not have sufficient capacity for our customers. I hope we can get permission to open more flights from Shanghai to Finland," said Mikko Rautio, general manager of Finnair China.

According to statistics provided by foreign airlines, Chinese passengers generally occupied over 60 percent of the seats over the Triple Holiday. This percentage increases dramatically during holiday periods.

Government employee Wang Xiaozhou planned to spend his honeymoon in Singapore with his new bride. It took him 15 days to get his passport and visa, in the period immediately preceding National Day. In the past, it would often take 21 days to apply for the passport alone.

From the start of 2002, China began to facilitate travel procedures for tourists.

Sector insiders point out that China is the fastest-growing tourism destination in Asia. The booming tourism industry can be attributed to the strong growth of both the Chinese economy and standard of living. Optimism and confidence in the future, along with their strong desire to see the world are the driving forces of the growth in the industry.

Foreign tourist destinations also hope to reap the benefits of the increasing numbers of Chinese tourists. Helen Zhang, a tourism official from New Zealand, said that today's increasingly wealthy Chinese tourists arrive with more money to spend, therefore, local guides await them in New Zealand's airports, hoping to accompany them during their stays.

Shifting to a global perspective, while the international tourism industry was seriously affected during the past year, many tourist nations turned their eyes to China. Chinese will soon be able to tour Germany after the hosting travel agencies are determined, said Xu Shengli, the representative of the German National Tourism Office in China.

Meanwhile, Canada, France, Mauritius and Switzerland are applying for Approved Destination Status from the Chinese government.

According to a prediction by the World Tourist Organization, China will become the fourth largest tourist source nation by 2020.

Source: Xinhua News Agency

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