THAILAND retains its heavyweight status as a top holiday destination in Asia, with three cities featured on TripAdvisor’s list of Top 20 Most Popular Outbound Destinations for Chinese Travellers.
Phuket, Bangkok and Chiang Mai were ranked second, fourth and 12th respectively based on unique visitor numbers to its customised site for the Chinese market, daodao.com, during July and August.
The Thai trio also garnered strong year-on-year growth in the number of searches performed on the site. Interest in Phuket grew by 250 per cent, Bangkok by 270 per cent and Chiang Mai by 180 per cent.
Lily Cheng, managing director, TripAdvisor China, said: “While Hong Kong and Macau continue to draw tens of millions of mainland tourists a year…we are definitely seeing a shift in the market and mainland travellers have started to look farther afield to destinations like Thailand, Taiwan, South Korea and beyond.”
“This new generation of Chinese outbound travellers is making their own decisions about where to go, where to stay and what to do by doing their own research online, going beyond the old stereotype of big buses of group tourists. These travellers are savvy, sophisticated and do make an effort to understand and respect the local culture by doing a lot of online research before their trip.”
Rounding up, the top 20 are:
1. Hong Kong, 50 per cent
2. Phuket, 250 per cent
3. Taiwan, 350 per cent
4. Bangkok, 270 per cent
5. Paris, 360 per cent
6. Dubai, 210 per cent
7. Macau, 50 per cent
8. Seoul, 180 per cent
9. Singapore, 170 per cent
10. Bali, 310 per cent
11. Rome, 180 per cent
12. Chiang Mai, 180 per cent
13. New York, 280 per cent
14. London, 120 per cent
15. Jeju Island, 570 per cent
16. Boracay, 360 per cent
17. Kyoto, 580 per cent
18. Kota Kinabalu, 550 per cent
19. Hanoi, 510 per cent
20. Kuala Lumpur, 190 per cent
Destinations that showed the highest growth in search numbers were Kyoto, Kota Kinabalu, Hanoi and Jeju Island. But outside of the top 20, destinations with more than four times year-on-year growth were Siem Reap, Pattaya, Sabah and Berlin.
