Chinese travel market brings opportunity

José Manuel Barroso, former president of the European Commission, speaks at the World Travel & Tourism Council Global Summit in Madrid in April 2015. [Photo by Zhang Chunyan/China Daily]

China's fast growth of the tourism market brings lots of opportunities for the industry globally, industry insiders said at the World Travel & Tourism Council Global Summit.

The WTTC's latest report forecasts that the United States and China will retain their rankings as the world's two biggest travel and tourism economies.

China's tourism industry will grow 7.5 percent this year, faster than the national economy, said David Scowsill, the WTTC's president and CEO.

"The country's middle class is growing and traveling more and the Chinese government has positioned the travel industry as one of its pillars of economic development," Scowsill said.

The 25-year old WTTC quantifies the industry annually, and this year's report covers 184 countries and 25 regions of the world.

During the WTTC Global Summit in Madrid from April 15 to 16, Chinese market has been a very hot topic among business leaders and insiders.

"China for us is one of the most exciting markets…China is very diverse and dynamic," Federico Gonzalez Tejera, chief executive of Spanish NH Hotel Group, told China Daily.

Tejera also admitted that Chinese market is very competitive, because many people are bringing new ideas and developing new things.

NH Hotel Group and Hainan Airlines Group, a large privately-owned airline group based in Hainan, China signed a memorandum of understanding in September, 2014 that will lead to the creation of a new joint venture hotel management company in China.

NH currently operates almost 400 hotels in Europe, Africa and Latin America, although this would mark its first foray into Asia Pacific. For HNA Group, this deal marks its latest European collaboration after it took a 48 percent stake in French airline Aigle Azur in 2012.

At a press conference which was held by Japan National Tourism Organization at the summit, Japanese officials said that since the beginning of this year, more Chinese tourists have been visiting Japan due to easier requirements for multiple-entry visas and the depreciation of the Japanese yen against the US dollar.

Besides the surging number of visitors, Chinese tourists are now also the high-spenders.

In 2014, border crossings into and out of China numbered 110 million and the figure is expected to surpass the 500 million mark over the next five years.

With the 'One Belt, One Road' strategy which is rolled out by Chinese government, analysts noted that China will bring huge tourism cooperation opportunities to the world.

The WTTC is the global authority on the economic and social contribution of tourism. It promotes sustainable growth for the industry, working with governments and international institutions to create jobs, to drive exports and to generate prosperity.

WTTC's annual Global Summit which brings together over 1,000 delegates to discuss the opportunities, challenges and issues facing the industry is the most influential annual gathering of tourism leaders.

This year,speakers include José Manuel Barroso, former president of the European Commission; Ana Botín, executive chairman, Banco de Santander; Petra Nemcova, founder, Happy Hearts Fund; and Richard Leakey, founder, Turkana Basin Institute.