“The remarkable change in Chinese consumers’ holiday lifestyles and tourism growth is largely due to the relaxation of the government’s previous restrictions on outbound travel, the introduction of government policies to increase Chinese leisure time and the rise of a Chinese middle class with higher disposable income.

The outline for National Tourism and Leisure (2013-20) launched in March 2013, and details the government’s determination to develop Chinese consumers’ holiday lifestyles in various aspects, which alongside previous government policies, have led to the evolution of the country’s tourism; and the industry is still growing.

Despite the slowdown in overall GDP (Gross Domestic Product) growth in the past two years, Chinese middle class spending does not seem to have been impacted greatly, indeed Chinese consumers are showing a stronger desire than ever before to explore foreign lands and enjoy new experiences. Chinese travellers spent US$102 billion on international tourism in 2012, up 40% from 2011, according to United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO). UNWTO also shows that Chinese tourists spent 30% more when travelling abroad in 2012 than they did in the previous year.

Overseas destinations are anticipating that crowds of Chinese travellers will spend money, in their hotels, airports and malls, and international retailers are hiring Chinese-speaking sales staff or concierge services in those countries relaxing their visa procedures and co-operating with their holiday marketing to maximise on the potential for Chinese tourism.

The impact of rising incomes, and changing Chinese spending habits on leisure and holidays have seen the holiday/leisure industry move its focus from providing low-quality group tours to offering customised holiday products and services. Chinese travellers now have more complex wants and needs from their travel, thus holiday operators/destinations will need to take these diverse needs and expectations into account in order to target and tailor their products and services accordingly.”

In this report, we answer the key questions:

• What are the typologies of Chinese travellers and how can holiday companies better target them?

• Given that not everyone can afford to, or wants to travel on overseas luxury/prestige holidays, what range of products should be offered by holiday operators?

• What can domestic holiday operators do to meet the diverse needs of these increasingly sophisticated travellers?

• There is also a growing trend towards young Chinese travellers who, like their Western backpacker counterparts, want to put together their own itinerary and are looking to travel on a low budget. What can holiday companies provide for these travellers?

• What factors do Chinese travellers consider when it comes to deciding on their holiday destinations? What can holiday operators do to improve so that their products or services are more appealing to Chinese travellers?

The report discusses the holiday lifestyles of Chinese consumers.

The standard travel and tourism definitions used in the terminology of this report are as follows:

• Tourism is any travel, which involves an overnight stay away from home.

• A holiday is a subjectively defined form of tourism, as defined by the tourist in response to mintel’s survey. A holiday can be distinguished from other leisure travel such as visits to friends/relatives or shopping trips.

• Short-haul refers to air holidays within asia and mainland china. Long-haul, therefore, refers to holidays outside asia.

• Package tour/holiday, is defined as the simultaneous sale of at least two elements of a holiday to the traveller: fares on transport (eg flights) and commercial accommodation (eg hotel or self-catering apartment). Other elements, such as meals or excursions, are not essential to the definition of an inclusive tour. Another term ‘group tour/holiday’ is commonly known in china, it can be used to describe a tour which is just travel in a group sharing one tourist bus, licensed driver, and a tour guide, or all-inclusive holiday. The term 'all-inclusive' is used to describe a special type of holiday in which food, visa, excursions, transport and other services are provided as part of the total holiday cost.

• An independent holiday is one in which the traveller organises and books transport and accommodation from separate sources (eg a self-drive or travel by train and a budget accommodation in hangzhou).

• Seat- or flight-only is a type of independent holiday, and the terms are used to denote holidays in which travellers only purchase a return fare and thereafter book their own accommodation, car hire etc.

The report features three sections (Executive Summary, Consumer, Key Issues) and an Appendix. The Appendix contains the demographic data.

For the purposes of this report, Mintel commissioned a quantitative research survey carried out online to explore consumer attitudes towards their holiday lifestyle.

Fieldwork was conducted in November 2013, in four tier one cities and six tier two and three cities of 3,000 adults aged 20-49. The tier one cities are Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Chengdu. The tier two and three cities are Hangzhou, Fuzhou, Suzhou, Zhengzhou, Qingdao, and Taiyuan.

Unless otherwise stated, photographs in this report were taken by Mintel analysts.