Pre-covid, China’s international tourism spend, at £225 billion, was the most of any country in the world – almost double that of the USA in second place, whose citizens collectively spent £117 billion in 2019. Much of that spending went to China’s Asian neighbours, with Thailand, Japan and Vietnam making up the top three foreign travel destinations for Chinese travellers.

But thanks to Europe’s Schengen visa system that allows Chinese tourists to visit 27 EU countries on one visa, more and more tourists from China have been flying further afield to appreciate the history, culture, cuisine and, most importantly, shopping in Europe, with France being the number one European destination.

Although the UK doesn’t belong to Schengen, inbound tourism to the UK from China has also risen drastically in recent years, rising from 192,000 visits in 2009 to 1.01 million in 2019. This is in part due to the rapidly growing number of middle-class Chinese who have the spending power to travel, but also because Britain has been at the forefront of attracting the deep-pocketed tourists to our shores, with a wealth of experiential offerings, from attending football games and whisky tastings to visiting royal palaces.

Britain’s soft power has done a lot to attract tourists, but now a concerted effort is being made to ease the path for Chinese tourists to visit the UK. Initiatives including Chinese language signage, specially created apps, WeChat and Alipay payment options, and even Chinese breakfasts at hotels are all helping to attract China’s new generation of wealthy tourists.

However, things came to an abrupt halt during the pandemic as global travel was put on hold. In 2021, a mere 17,000 Chinese visitors came to the UK as restrictions from both sides were put in place and flight routes were cancelled. This figure crept up to just 73,000 in 2022.

Although China re-opened earlier this year and international flights have now resumed (albeit not to pre-pandemic levels), the number of Chinese tourists coming to the UK is still lower than expected. Visit Britain predicts Chinese tourist numbers to reach 250,000 in 2023 – just a quarter of pre-pandemic levels.

This is in part due to the Covid hangover and a global economic downturn, but Beijing’s ban on tour groups visiting the UK – which was only removed in August 2023 – has been the biggest factor. Tour groups have traditionally made up nearly half of all Chinese travel to the UK, with the remainder being made up of independent travellers, business travellers and governmental delegations.

The Covid-era tour group ban, however, has been one of the factors contributing to the rise of the free and independent traveller (FIT). According to Champa Selim, Deputy Director of Greater China and South East Asia at Bicester Village, the majority of visits to the Oxfordshire shopping village have been FITs.

China’s FITs have been on the rise for years. Younger, wealthier tourists have been eager to move away from the constraints of package tours and focus their trips on their specific interests. Some might be coming to the UK for shopping, others for sports. Some might be eager to visit stately homes or hike in the hills, while others might be happy to discover Liverpool or Manchester’s nightlife.

“Most FITs are high net worth individuals, visiting their children who are at university or business or property investors,” says Selim. “Over the past months, there have been a lot of business and government visitors as it is easier for them to get travel permits,” she says.

When the ban on tour groups was lifted in August 2023, there was an expectation that Chinese tourists would flood back in and indulge in ‘revenge spending’. But tour companies need time to ramp up their marketing, potential tourists haven’t had much notice, and the logistics and paperwork required to get passports, visas and flights have long lead times. The upshot is that nowhere near as many Chinese tourists made it to the UK in time for October’s Golden Week holidays.

However, Selim says that the big numbers will start to come back from Chinese New Year 2024. “I’m pretty confident that numbers will get back up to pre-covid numbers,” she says. “But things can happen quickly to impact China-UK relationships.”

Selim goes on to explain that post-covid tourism will see more FITs than before as the percentage of independent travellers will overtake those on package tours, and that the visitors will be made up of younger and more affluent groups. In 2022, Chinese tourists were among the youngest in the world, with 57% being between the ages of 18 and 34.

It is important that Chinese tourists do return soon, as many in the hospitality industry now rely on Chinese tourists to fill in the gap in the annual calendar. China’s two biggest holidays, Chinese New Year and Golden Week, occur during the UK’s low season: Chinese tourists help fill hotels in the cold January and February months and during the downturn in October after the British school holidays are over.

Another reason many tourist venues are eager to attract Chinese tourists is that their average stay is much longer at 16.33 nights, and with an average spend of £1,937 per person per trip, they are also the highest spenders per head. Chinese tourists are also much less London-centric than most European travellers, happy to travel to other areas, such as Bicester, to shop, Windsor for the royals, and other cities such as Manchester and Liverpool due to the high number of students in those areas.

And with more than 150,000 Chinese students in the UK, the value of visiting family members is also not to be downplayed, as they are usually FIT travellers and in the highest income bracket.

The pandemic has certainly shifted how people travel, but as international relations stabilise and travel corridors open up with more direct flights returning, Visit Britain predicts a 10% rise in pre-pandemic tourism levels by 2025, a figure that will please the 3.1 million British people working in the tourism sector.

China Chat | The Future of Experiential Retail in China and how UK Brands can benefit from its Innovation

CBBC’s popular China Chat series for consumer brands returns on 25 October in London.

The session will look at China’s evolving retail landscape and what it means for UK consumer brands seeking to engage with Chinese consumers in the post-pandemic era — both in China and in the UK.

Event speakers include Simon Mitchell, Co-Founder of Sybarite; Champa Selim, Deputy Director of Greater China and Southeast Asia at Bicester Village; Antoaneta Becker, Director, Consumer Economy at the China-Britain Business Council; and Celine Tang, Retail & E-commerce Sector Lead at the China-Britain Business Council.

Click here to register

Photo by Fas Khan on Unsplash

The post Are Chinese tourists returning to the UK post-Covid? appeared first on Focus - China Britain Business Council.

It’s impossible to go punting in Cambridge or whisky tasting in Scotland without bumping into Chinese tourists on the trail of good old British authenticity. More languages are spoken in London than any other capital city and today you are more likely to hear Mandarin on the Tube than French, a shift that reflects the changes taking place in the UK’s tourism industry.

Ever more businesses are investing in Mandarin-language services, as driving holidays, adventure activities and fine dining are now among the most desired travel experiences sought by Chinese tourists. Unlike their parents’ generation, who were most comfortable travelling on packaged guide tours, today’s Chinese increasingly view planning their own trips and designing their own itineraries as character-building experiences.

New figures show that more Chinese tourists than ever are travelling beyond Greater China to countries such as the UK. The growth rate of Chinese outbound trips for destinations globally, from 2008 to 2018, is estimated to be 437.5 percent.

“Chinese tourists are visiting the UK not just for shopping and ‘see-all-the-sites in five days’ bus tours – although these are still significant attractions – but also to seek out a more diverse range of experiences,” explains Tom Simpson, CBBC’s Senior Director and Head of Creative Industries & Sports. When it comes to sports and activities, Simpson says that the main attractions include Premier League football or tennis at Wimbledon, private cultural tours, for example visiting Highclere Castle where Downton Abbey was filmed, and participation in sporting events such as sailing around Loch Lomond in Scotland or running the London Marathon. “This reflects both the increased diversity of the Chinese economy and the growing hunger for unique cultural experiences overseas,” says Simpson.

The rise of the FIT – free and independent traveller – has led to a major change in the profile of Chinese tourists seen in the UK and elsewhere: often they are younger and looking for unique and more ‘authentic’ experiences as part of their travel plans. Engaging with FITs, however, is more challenging than with the traditional Chinese holiday makers and their preference for package tours, and understanding how this current generation research and plan trips is crucial. Technology is, as often is the case with China, key. Websites and apps such as Ctrip, China’s leading travel service provider with over 300 million users, are continually growing, and their engagement with attractions, hotels, retail establishments, and other tourism essentials continues to expand.

The rise of the FIT – free and independent traveller – has led to a major change in the profile of Chinese tourists

WeChat is another essential tool for engaging with the new breed of Chinese tourist. UK cities such as London have acknowledged this by responding with mini-apps to enhance the holiday experience. While mini-apps are a good start for engaging with Chinese tourists, the integration of WeChat pay and AliPay payment systems has the potential to transform the experience of the new Chinese traveller. “The next big wave of change is mobile payment system integration. Alipay and WeChat pay are starting to make serious inroads into the UK now, and this will continue to grow over the coming years. Alipay is accepted in retailers like Selfridges, Harrods, The Body Shop, and Watches of Switzerland. WeChat Pay has just launched at Camden Market”, says CBBC’s Assistant Director of Retail and the Creative Industries, Jack Porteous.

Chinese tourists are spending more time and money once they reach their destinations, but increasingly seek home comforts during their bespoke trips. In response, hotels are coming up with programmes to better accommodate Chinese guests. The Novotel London West, in Hammersmith, London, offers a Chinese-style breakfast and Chinese television channels. Hilton Worldwide has gone even further, creating a Huanying (‘Welcome’ 欢迎) programme that throws Chinese tea, slippers, and a Chinese-speaking staff member on call 24/7.

The attitude seen in hotels is being encouraged in other sectors by VisitBritain’s GREAT China Welcome programme that helps UK attractions and service providers get to grips with the basics. “More UK businesses are adapting to serve Chinese visitors better. We have a GREAT China Welcome programme currently supported by over 400 UK tourism businesses. This will continue to drive China-friendly services including guiding, literature and digital payment,” says VisitBritain’s Executive Country Director, Greater China and Interim Director China and North East Asia, Travis Qian.

High-end Chinese tourists are, however, leading the way in seeking out ever more bespoke styles of travel. Organisations operating in niche tourism markets aimed at high net-worth individuals are well placed to cash in on their sophisticated travel requirements. “Usually our clients come to us with a subject area that they would like to explore in depth and we then pull together a customised itinerary to give them a high level, exclusive experience, which they can’t create on their own or find with a travel agent,” explains the Director of New Chapters, Esther Leong. These organisations are often already familiar with their clients, and can therefore suggest topics and locations that they feel would be of interest to them. Leong explains that instead of backpacking and driving trips, New Chapters’ programmes are rooted in cultural and historical learning as well as, importantly, learning by doing. “Many of our clients are families interested in developing their own and particularly their children’s understanding of European cultures and developing an international mind-set and leadership capabilities in their children. Our learning programmes aim to be highly developmental and often prepare the children either for education or a career in the west,” says Leong.

The changes seen in Chinese tourists visiting the UK present new opportunities to British organisations, as well as fresh challenges, given the growing interest in customised travel experiences. With the interests, demographics and behaviour of Chinese tourists becoming more diverse, UK companies should tailor their services to tourists seeking experiences ranging from the affordable and adventure-orientated to the niche and bespoke. By examining the travel patterns and habits of sophisticated Chinese travellers, it is clear that Chinese holidaymakers seek a broad spectrum of experiences.

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