The average trip spend for Chinese millennial travellers internationally was EUR 1,200, with 14% reportedly spending more than EUR 3,000.
Compared to other millennial travellers, Chinese millennials are particularly likely to experience visa problems; 28% of Chinese millennial travellers reported experiencing visa barriers versus 12.5% of other millennial travellers.
The overall expenditure of Chinese travellers reached USD 129 billion in 2013, and so the Chinese Millennial Traveller report offers a deeper demographic insight into the Chinese millennial traveller in order to support youth and student travel industry professionals serving the growing Chinese travel market.
The key findings of the report include:
Chinese millennial traveller behaviour
- The level of bookings made with a smartphone or tablet are much higher than for youth travellers from other parts of the world
- 57% use their smartphone four to five times a day, with 39% indicating that they check their phone every five minutes
- The preferred use of the internet is for social media purposes (69%) and the majority use Chinese-language social networks (66%) over English-language social networks (34%)
- 28% experienced visa difficulties, with the majority of difficulties experienced by travellers to the USA
- The majority carry debit cards when they travel, but they prefer to pay with cash than with debit card or credit card.
Chinese millennial traveller attitudes
- The top two motivations for travel are to increase knowledge and mental relaxation
- 27% rely on family and friends for travel information
- Almost half indicated that travel reviews ‘often’ have an effect on their travel decisions
- 60% use online travel information sources compared to 37% who use offline sources
- 84% indicated that they enjoy staying in hostels, and those that had reservations about hostels cited safety, lack of personal space and cleanliness as the main reasons why.
