The evolutionary patterns of the Chinese outbound travel market: opportunities and perspectives

Abstract

At present times, the rapid and surprising growth of the Chinese outbound travel market catches the attention of many Countries in the world. Even though the tourism sector in China started to develop later than in other Countries, it has not only become one of the key-industries of Chinese economy but also one of the largest travel markets in the world in terms of number of outbound travelers and international tourism expenditure. Its incredible evolution has led to the emergence of a new generation of tourists, the FITs (Free Independent Travelers) that prefer travelling alone or in small groups, want to live unique personal experiences and long for getting off the beaten track to explore alternative destinations. Collaboration agreements have been established among China and Italy, which has become an unmissable stop in Chinese European tours, with the main purpose of promoting and evaluating less-known destinations. The object of the present study is to investigate the opportunities that the evolution of the Chinese outbound travel market offers to non-classical destinations such as the Province of Trento and to identify which kind of tourism offer it could propose to attract Chinese travelers.