加载中…China Daily：Travelers 'are like country's diplomats'
(2015-11-30 14:52:47)| 分类： 国际视野 |
Outbound tourism seen as having
strong role in country's push to go global
The number of Chinese going
overseas on holiday has grown rapidly over the past 10 years, and
the outbound tourism industry can play an important role in China's
globalization, experts say.
Wang Huiyao, president of the
Center for China and Globalization（CCG）, says China's opening-up is
part of its citizens going on overseas holidays.
Last year, China's outbound
tourism industry was worth $160 billion (150 billion euros), which
is higher than Chinese companies' combined outbound investment of
$140 billion.
"China's globalization is
people's globalization," Wang said at a meeting of the China
Outbound Forum in Sanya, Hainan province.
"People first travel to a
country, and then want to study, work and invest
there."
Delegates at the forum
discussed the latest trends of Chinese companies' efforts in going
global, and the challenges and potential of
development.
"Every day about 20,000 people
travel between China and the US, and about 15,000 travel between
China and Europe," Wang said.
"One of China's biggest soft
powers could be its tourists. If they could go global and act
properly overseas, and at the same time spend money, they would be
good diplomats and improve China's image."
Qian Jiannong, vice-president
of Fosun, the investment group, says over the past few years
China's outbound tourism has grown more than 40 percent a year, and
the domestic market is growing rapidly, too. He agrees that
tourists play an important role in globalization.
"For example, the Belt and Road
Initiative is not only about building railways, highways and
airlines. It is more about economic, cultural and people exchanges
in various countries."
Fosun says it is increasing its
global investment in tourism. It bought the French resort operator
Club Mediterranee, has invested in the British tour operator Thomas
Cook Group, and has many travel agencies in China and
India.
"In the rapidly growing tourism
industry, I don't think the supply of products in China can keep up
with changes that are taking place in the market or make the most
of the opportunities that national strategies such as the Belt and
Road deliver," Qian says.
The Chinese tourism industry
and the products it delivers need a shake-up because they have not
kept pace with demands that have changed as people's incomes have
grown, he says.
"Most of China's tourism
products are stuck in this phase where tourists are taken to scenic
spots to take photos, but they are not given the chance to relax or
do anything else. One of the most difficult things with Chinese
holidays is that tourists have to line up at scenic spots, and
wherever they go there is heavy traffic.
"But if you have the right
products, ones that allow people to stay in one place for a few
days, it would be much less crowded."
Tourism has great potential, he
says, and Fosun will continue to increase investment in products
that China lacks, particularly in areas of short
supply.
"We will do that globally, not
only in one country, because tourism is global. We also hope that
through Fosun's global tourism resources investment and acquisition
we can reshape the global tourism industry."
Henri Giscard d'Estaing, chief
executive of Club Mediterranee, says Chinese tourists' habits are
changing.
They used to like visiting as
many places as possible, he says, but now many are keen on taking
things more slowly and lapping up local culture.
China is the company's biggest
market, he says, and Chinese customers stay at the company's
resorts for an average of 3.5 days. Ten years ago they would have
stayed for just a night. For the club this represents an
opportunity to introduce new products for Chinese
tourists.
For China, the challenge is
that its tourism industry lacks the experience of, for example, the
industry in Europe, Giscard d'Estaing says. However, the country
has many highly attractive tourist sites, and it needs the right
resources and talents to run them.
Zhang Lingyun, a professor at
Beijing Union University, says last year Chinese tourists made 3.6
billion domestic trips, generating turnover of about 3 trillion
yuan ($468 billion; 440 billion euros), and many international
companies are targeting Chinese tourists.
"The supply of products needs
to be raised. In addition, the industry needs to go global, but
that does not just mean tourists going abroad. Our logistics,
information and capital flow need to integrate with the
international market," he says.(By Chen Yingqun)
From China
Daily, Nov. 27, 2015
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