Photo credit: Anna Chichinadze / 4mycat.blogspot.com

Britain’s catchphrase for attracting Chinese tourists is “Jiu deng ni lai,” which roughly translates as “Just waiting for you to come”. Visit Britain, the national tourism agency, says it’s a localised tagline for its international slogan: “We’re celebrating and you’re invited.” Even so, if you don’t speak English, all you will understand is the “jiu deng ni lai” – which looks dangerously like: “Turn up if you want, but we’re not going to make a special effort to come and get you.”

This isn't just a problem for the British; it reflects the approach of a big chunk of the global tourist industry, say analysts. Faced with an explosion in the number of Chinese tourist over the next decade or so, and a growing sophistication in terms of their needs, the sector is sitting on its heels.

According to the US-based Boston Consulting Group (BCG), the Chinese tourist is increasingly looking for something more than a coach-packed, mass-market, multi-country sightseeing tour. Global travel companies, it says, urgently need to create new, innovative products for Chinese clients, to offer better services tailored to them, and to do their homework.

“China’s rapidly growing demand for travel, together with the lack of suitable offerings in a fragmented market, presents a rare opportunity for innovative early movers,” BCG noted in a report this spring. “Both affluent travellers and the emerging segment of middle-class tourists in large and small cities are desperately seeking brands and services they can trust.”

Last year, there were 57.39 million Chinese outbound tourists, up 20.4% on 2009, according to the China Tourism Academy (CTA). However, since about 70% of them made trips to Hong Kong and Macau, the real number was 17.2 million. Clive Jones – business development manager at Chinese marketing outfit Travel Trade China – says the number of international tourists from mainland China is likely to rise by at least 10% a year, meaning there will be 47 million of them by 2020. They will spend an estimated $145bn.

BCG predicts even faster growth. Vincent Liu, managing director of its Hong Kong office and an author of the report Taking Off: Travel and Tourism in China and Beyond, says that driven by rising incomes and aspirations, “We expect the numbers to grow dramatically at about an average of 17% per year in long-haul international travel between now and 2020. By then, there will be 60 million trips by Chinese people. That means that they will make up some 20% of European tourist traffic [they make up less than 5% now], 9% of US traffic and 27% of Japan’s traffic, as a percentage of the international traffic they receive. It’s going to be big.” In just two years, he says, China will overtake Japan to be the second-biggest outbound tourism market after the US.

Last year the top 10 destinations for Chinese outbound tourists were Hong Kong, Macau, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, the US, Thailand, Singapore and Russia, according to the CTA. If we look at non-Asian destinations, says Travel Trade China’s Jones, the top five countries were the US, Russia, Italy, France and Germany.

Whereas Western travellers like to spend on hotels and food, the Chinese traveller likes to shop. One reason is a strong culture of gift-buying; another is that the products – often luxury brands – are 20%-30% cheaper overseas, says BCG’s Liu. Almost a third of Burberry’s sales came from Chinese shoppers in 2010, and a CTA survey that year found that nearly 27% of outbound tourists identified shopping as being the area of greatest expenditure.

Travis Qian, China and Hong Kong manager for Visit Britain, says: “The market is still young, and [the Chinese] are not very experienced or sophisticated travellers. We call them trophy tourists. They want to snatch trophies from different destinations. They want to shop, and so they spend a lot of money on shopping. [As far as we’re concerned,] that’s not a bad thing.”

Most go by package tour, because agencies take care of visas (which can otherwise be difficult – many countries require proof of sufficient savings) and provide Chinese-speaking guides. “About 70% of them will be travelling outside of China for the first time,” says Jones, “and they follow the same pattern as shown by first- time travellers from the US, Japan and Russia. They are typically large groups on fully inclusive, multiple-city tours in a Chinese bubble (that is, a 24-hour Chinese-language guide, plus Chinese food). And low prices... They don't do lazy beach and local taverna holidays, yet.” They go cheap on hotel rooms – a typical budget is €50 a night. They also enjoy “sightseeing and shopping for designer labels and then telling their friends all about it”.

But as incomes rise and more people go travelling overseas, the profile of the Chinese tourist will change. Instead of sightseeing, many of them will want to relax. “It’s very consistent with consumer behaviour around the world,” notes BCG’s Liu. “You go through the natural stages. First it’s go there, see something, and find some stuff to buy – just sightseeing and shopping – and after you’ve seen enough castles, museums, towers and waterfalls it becomes not so interesting any more...

“More of them will choose to focus on relaxation. That’s particularly true of Chinese people. They work so hard, they accumulate wealth and they want to reward themselves.” He predicts female travellers will continue to make shopping a major factor of their trip – “they think it’s therapeutic” – but will start seeking more spa treatments. Males will become more interested in sampling cuisine, hiring a car and “seeing beautiful scenery”.

One obvious way in which Chinese outbound tourism is changing is the rise in independent travel. Acquiring a visa is easier (last year Israel and Croatia relaxed restrictions, a trend likely to continue), people are learning about destinations from blogs and social media, and travellers are more confident.

Lonely Planet started releasing Chinese-language editions of its guidebooks in 2006. Now 60 out of its 320 titles are published in Chinese and sold on the mainland. Its foreign rights manager, Megan Fraser, says: “In 2006, we felt the time was right for us to enter the Chinese market.” Chinese titles range from established outbound markets such as Italy, Australia and Thailand to emerging destinations such as South America, Mexico and the Maldives. Southeast Asia on a Shoestring, Europe on a Shoestring and guides to the US, Italy and Australia all rank in the top 10 sellers on the mainland, she adds. This year Turkey has also emerged as a ‘hot’ destination.

Fraser explains how, back in 2006, Lonely Planet aimed its titles at two emerging groups: well-educated urban professionals aged 25-44, who were willing to spend more money on travel and were confident about travelling alone; and students aged 18-24, who were “open-minded and keen to see the world in their own way”.

Zhao Chenghui is a good example of the first group. This 32-year-old photographer has just come back from a 14-day whirlwind package tour of Europe, including stops in Italy, France, Holland, Belgium, Austria and Switzerland. Every night he would skip dinner with the group (always in a Chinese restaurant) and go off alone to sample the local food and nightlife. “I ate pasta and pizza in Italy, steak in France, and drank beer in Germany. In Italy I stumbled across a music concert. I had a great time,” the Beijinger explains. “The older people in the group spent tens of thousands of renminbi on luxury goods. But I’m not interested in that. I want to feel the local life. That’s what young travellers want these days.”

Zhao is planning a trip to Australia this month, where he and his girlfriend will go it alone without the help of a tour group. “I know how to apply for my own visa now. I don’t need a tour agency,” he adds. Unfortunately for Lonely Planet, he says he doesn’t like guidebooks. “You can just ask a local where to go and eat where the locals are eating.”

There will still be Chinese tourists wanting to take a tour, particularly older ones, but they’ll be looking for something more specialised. “Chinese travellers are shifting from mass participation to mass personalisation,” says Lonely Planet’s Fraser. “Where once Chinese tourists sat on tour buses and visited five European countries in 10 days, the trend now is toward soft travel, allowing travellers time to do their own thing on an organised trip, or FIT (free independent tourist) travel, where the more experienced traveller can fully organise and personalise their own trip.

“This parallels travel preferences in many countries as economies develop and travellers become more sophisticated. However, it appears to be happening at a much faster rate in China.”

BCG’s Liu agrees. He says tours lack innovation and do not cater to Chinese travellers’ particular needs. “If there’s no product differentiation, then you end up competing on price.” Companies would do well to stand out from the crowd by offering some kind of VIP service, especially favoured by Chinese tourists, such as help with baggage delivery to and from the airport, having more Chinese- speaking staff and mixing Chinese cuisine in with local food. “Add Chinese rice as a side dish to your French oysters,” suggests Liu.

“Everyone can do sightseeing, it’s exactly the same places,” he adds. “But the overall experience can be different. Offer VIP access in customs so that your client doesn’t get yelled at by the immigration officer, for example. If the client’s luggage is over the weight limit, offer a 50% discount on the overweight charge. There are things that you can do to make you stand out.”

Liu argues that the luxury retail industry is years ahead of the travel industry. Top brands in London, Paris and other big cities across Europe have Chinese–speaking staff and take China UnionPay, a Chinese banking payment system.

For his part, Travel Trade China’s Jones says tour companies need to start being creative. They need to “promote choice. The wholesale nature and tight trade control of tourism produces uniform packages, and consumers are starting to want to see more of the local culture and do less organised sightseeing.”

China’s travel industry is still tightly controlled – the government owns 50% of all travel agencies directly – and it is both costly and difficult for foreign companies to get a foothold. Even so, the outlook is rosier, says Jones. A recent relaxation of policy this autumn means that foreign travel companies can now offer full packages – including flights and visas – from inside China.

Visit Britain’s Qian argues that the main problem for would- be players in China – UK ones, at least – is that they haven’t had staying power. “Over the last few years too many British travel companies have come here wanting a share of the China market but they don’t make a commitment,” he says. “China is a long- term market and requires a long-term commitment. When there’s no visible return, these firms just retreat. It’s quite damaging, as they will jeopardise the confidence of Chinese clients.”

It’s a problem globally, says Steve Galpin, managing director of British-based CHR Travel. “I think many attractions, hotels etc gave up in China because they didn’t understand the market. They dreamt of high-paying guests, paid out a lot for marketing and then didn’t see any results. I think every nation in the world has hit Chinese travel operators in the last five or so years, looking to replace the loss of guests from the US, Europe and Australia and looking, sadly, for quick results. China is a fast-moving country but the travel sector is still young and there’s so much to do.”