China’s news agency reported since 2000, China’s cruise traveler traffic has been growing at annual rate of over 40% and make the country world’s second largest source market for cruise.

For the first time, total number of tourists from China visited Thailand exceeded 10 million in 2018, and they contributed 580 billion Thai Baht (around RMB135 billion) to Thailand’s economy.

Since May this year, foreigners can enter China visa free at Shenzhen Airport and stay for 144 hours. The airport handled 32% more to 4.311 million international passengers in the first 10 months this year.

Shenzhen Airport, which now connects to over 50 foreign cities by passenger flight, will for the first time handles over 5 million international flight passengers in this year.

In 2018, some 8.38 million tourists from Mainland China visited Japan, up 13.9% comparing to 2017.

In 2018, Chinese tourists spent RMB 97.1 billion in Japan, which account for nearly 34% of all foreigners’ spending in the country.

More Chinese now travel as FIT citizens and their per capita spending in the first 3 quarter this year on attraction tickets and hotel lodging respectively grew 31.5% and 20.1%.

9 provinces had their per capita consumption expenditure for the first 3 quarter this year higher than the national average, with Shanghai at RMB33557 the highest, to be followed by Beijing at RMB31542 then Tianjin at RMB23751.

China’s per capita consumption expenditure in the first 3 quarters this year grew nominally by 8.3% to RMB15464, and by 5.7% after adjusting for inflation.

Effective August 1 this year, mainland China stops her outbound tourists to visit Taiwan as FIT. Around 1 million FIT from the mainland visited Taiwan last year.

A total of 282,999 arrivals from mainland China visited Taiwan in August, who on average stayed for 7.44 nights per person per trip and around 76.47% of them were tourists based on visa issued.

Taiwan media reported the tourist arrivals from mainland China to Taiwan in September dropped 69.1% to 62000 from the 203000 in August, with total of FIT dropped to 36000 and package tour to 20000.

Over 8100 Chinese tourists visited Antarctica in 2018 -19 summer season, up from some 3000 from 2016 -17, making China the second largest source market behind the United States.

A total of 56168 tourists visited Antarctica roughly from late October 2018 to the end of March 2019, which is the 2018 – 19 summer season, according to the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators.

Arrivals from China to Kenya in 2018 rose by 4.03% to 81700.

Chinese tourists spent in UK an average of 1600 pound per person per trip, which is 2.8 times the spending of inbound to UK from other markets.

Some 745100 travelers from China (mainland), up 2.4% over the year before, visited UK in 2018, according to China Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

Over 1 million Hong Kong citizens visited Thailand in 2018, up 23% over the year before.

Some 309,000 travelers from Hong Kong, up 9.8%, visited Australia in 2018.

Some 243,000 travelers from Hong Kong, up 5.7%, visited UK in 2018. Uncertain how many Hongkongers traveling in different passport been included. For example, at its height, over 3 million citizens of the city had British National Overseas passport

Hong Kong Travel Industry Council quoted IATA that revenue of air tickets sold in Hong Kong in September grew 8.5% to HK$2.4 billion; while sale revenue from Jan to September grew 4.3%.

In recent press interviews, United Airlines said demand for its flights to HK had returned to levels seen before social unrest started, while American Airlines reported recent advance bookings to Hong Kong were “looking pretty good”!

Number of Chinese tourists visiting USA in the first half of this year dropped 4%, while those to Hawaii this year till August dropped 27%.

In the 2018 financial year, US rejected 17% of applications from Chinese for tourist visa, while 5 years ago the rejection rate was 8.5%.

Close to 3 million Chinese tourists visited the US last year, a drop of nearly 6%, and the number of tourists from China dropped nearly 4% in the first half of this year.

According to the US Travel Association, Chinese tourists spent per person per trip in USA an estimated average of US$6700, which exceeded the average spending of overseas tourists by more than 50%.

Despite social unrest, Deputy Executive Director of the Trade Development Council, which organizes many major international trade fairs in Hong Kong, reported all their exhibitions in past months have been held smoothly while coming ones will be held as planned.

Last year, Chinese tourists contributed NZ$1.7 billion or 10.5% of all tourism incomes of New Zealand, which is the country’s biggest source of foreign income.

Number of Hong Kong citizens departing at the city’s Kai Tak Cruise Terminal saw a 7.6% growth in July, then a 5.2% drop in August to be followed by a shallow rebound of 0.2% in September.

After a 2.3% growth in July then a shallow drop of 0.05% in August, Hong Kong citizens made 3% more to 7.46 million departures in September this year, which mean they made in the past three months 1.74% more departures. (Source: October issue of the Hong Kong Monthly Digest of Statistics)

Despite unrest, Hong Kong citizens made 2.3% more to 7.972 million departures in July, but 0.05% fewer or 7.566 million departures in August, so more departures in the two summer months!

In China, online booking of travel products of niche destinations like Czech, Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, Croatia, Malta and Cambodia for October golden week grew by double digits.

From China Ministry of Culture and Tourism, number of outbound travelers during October Golden Week exceeded 7 million, and destinations such as Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, France, Italy and Russia remain popular.

During the National Day Golden Week, sale of Europe rail passes grew 35% while booking of durian trips in Southeast Asia grew 59%.

By age, the two fastest growing groups of outbound travelers during China’s National Day Golden Week are those born in this century with 130% growth and those born before the Sixties growing by nearly 30%.

The top three spenders by provinces in China during the National Day Golden Week this year, by per capita spending abroad by Alipay, are respectively Zhejiang, Shanghai and Jiangsu.

During the National Day Golden Week this year, average amount of Alipay transactions by Chinese travelers in outbound destinations rose by 11%.

Mainland Chinese outbound tourists during the National Day Golden Week this year, on average, spent by Alipay RMB2500 per person during their outbound trip, up 14% over same period last year.

Survey on National Day Golden Week holiday-makers by China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism found 66.4% visited cultural and heritage attractions and 86.36% took part in two or more cultural activities.

There were a total of 782 million domestic travelers in China, up 7.81%, during the National Day Golden Week this year from October 1 to 7.

Domestic travels during the National Day Golden Week this year from October 1 to 7 generated incomes totaling RMB649.71 billion, up 8.47%, according to China's People's Daily.

Chinese FIT, on average, spend RMB4000 to 7000 on air ticket hotel per person per trip during National Day Holiday, according to C-trip, a major travel portal in China,

Japan surpass Thailand to rank top in China’s list of FIT outbound during National Day Holiday, with females accounting for 59%.

Destinations popular with Chinese FIT outbound during National Day Holidays are respectively Japan, Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia, Vietnam, Maldives, Indonesia, USA, Philippines, Cambodia, Australia, United Arab Emirates and UK, according to C-trip, China’s major travel portal.

A media in China reported around 7.5 million Chinese (mainland) will travel abroad in the National Day Golden Week

According to Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong, revenues of Hong Kong outbound package tours in July dropped by 16.3%, but in August dropped only 8.8%.

According to HKTB, 5.197 million visitors arrived Hong Kong in July this year, down 4.8%!

Despite social unrest, Hong Kong citizens made 2.3% more or 7.973 million departures in July this year, according to Hong Kong Monthly Digest of Statistics published by the Government.

A survey by China’s Ministry of Education in 2018 with samples drawn from some 33000 parents from over 4000 schools found 38% of China’s schools participate in Study Tours, and Shanghai schools have the highest 66% participation rate. Media reported that study tours particularly outbound tours cost 1.5 to 2.0 times when comparing with leisure tour with similar itinerary.

The Speed Train, which runs between Hong Kong and mainland cities since end September last year, carried a total of 17.87 million passengers by the end of August this year, and averaging 52103 passengers per day with the peak day traffic of 104,155 passengers.

Global air passenger traffic grew by 6.4% to 8.8 billion in 2018, and the world now has 54 airports handling over 40 million passengers a year, according to Airports Council International.

According to the Airports Council International, Asia's top five busiest airports by passenger traffic in 2018 are respectively the Beijing International Airport in China (101 million), Tokyo's Haneda Airport in Japan (86.9 million), Hong Kong International Airport (74.5 million), Shanghai Pudong International Airport (74 million), and Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport (69.7 million).

According to the Airports Council International, world's top five busiest airports by passenger traffic in 2018 are respectively the Atlanta International Airport in USA (107.4 million), Beijing International Airport in China (101 million), Dubai International Airport in UAE (89.1 million), Los Angeles International Airport in USA (87.5 million) and Tokyo's Haneda Airport in Japan (86.9 million).

According to TripAdvisor recent research on experiences cited by respondents, wellness with 69% growth ranked third, then cultural / theme with 65% growth and outdoor activities which grew 56%.

According to TripAdvisor recent research on experiences cited by respondents, family friendly travel at 204% higher than the year before, grew the fastest, to be followed by classes/workshops at 90% growth.

On an ordinary working day when a newspaper reporter visited there were a total of 443 tourists in all such tour groups that day, but number of tourists can rise to over 1000 in weekend or public holiday.

Restricted zone with radius 30 km around atomic power plant Chernobyl in Ukraine accessible to tourists who join tour groups by one of the 9 designated travel agents in Kiev. In the past 7 years, number of visiting tourists grew some 12 times.

Around 400,000 business travelers from mainland China visited USA in 2018, and the number dropped 1.9% in the first half of this year.

Number of mainlander Chinese, including both for business and leisure, visiting the US fell 2.8% year on year to 1.47 million by the end of June, according to the US Commerce Dept.

1.29 million Chinese visited Cambodia in the first half of 2019, up 38.7%, accounting for 39.1% of all foreign visitors to Cambodia in that period.

According to employment portal 2019 report, China’s (mainland) top cities, by average monthly salary, are respectively Beijing at RMB22,306, Shanghai at RMB21,311, Shenzhen at RMB20,958, and Guangzhou at RMB19,055.

From World Travel Monitor report, global tourism trade keep growing by 3 to 5%, and on number of outbound travelers, Europe grows by 2.5%, lower than those of Americas at 4% and Asia at 5%.

In 2018, Hong Kong imported from Japan agricultural and fishery products worth a total of HK$15.2 billion, up 12.7%, and remained for 14 years in a row Japan’s largest market for such products.

Based on prices of study tours in summer this year from 15 major source market cities in China, C-trip ranked Guangzhou with per capita spending of RMB11963 ranked top, then Beijing at RMB10380 to be followed by Shanghai at RMB9830.

Based on bookings of study tours in this summer, C-trip, a leading travel portal in China reported on average Chinese families spent RMB22000 on Study Tour, up 2.1% over 2018.

Based on bookings of study tours in this summer, C-trip, a leading travel portal in China project that total number of travelers increase by over 50% but per spending per person per trip dropped 4.3%, comparing to same period last year, to RMB8641.

The survey found 62% of the children have traveled for leisure during holidays while 78.7% have visited friends and relatives in summer holiday.

Survey jointly by a Chinese daily covered 14874 children aged between 3 and 15 years old and/or their parent found on average each child spends in a year RMB9211 on extra-curriculum activities which is about 12.84% of the family’s income.

Number of outbound travelers in China for year 2019 projected to rise by 12% to 168 million.

Number of domestic travelers in China for year 2019 projected to rise by 9% to 6.04 billion, generating 10% more revenue to RMB 5.6 trillion.

Arrivals from China to Europe in the first half of 2019 projected to increase by 7.4% to 3 million.

Some 36% of Chinese outbound to Europe went to destinations in Eastern Europe, which enjoy fast growth rates with the highest over 20%.

In 2018, over 6 million Chinese travelers visited Europe, up 14%, and one quarter of China’s top 20 outbound destinations were in Europe.

China's outbound travelers in the first half of 2019 totaled 81.29 million, up 14%, majority visiting Asian destinations.

Numbers of domestic traveler during Spring, Ching Ming, May Day and Dragon Boat Festivals respectively grew by 7.6%, 10.9%, 13.7% and 7.7%.

(Mainland) China's domestic travelers in the first half of 2019 totaled 3.08 billion, up 8.8%, generated revenue totaling RMB2780 billion, up 13.5%.

Total number of singles in China reported reach 240 million, and percentage of marriages in 2018 was only 7.2% which is a new low in recent 10 years.

Each inbound tourist from mainland China spends New Taiwan dollar 6200 per day per person, so Taiwan will be losing tourism revenue of New Taiwan dollar 76 billion in the second half of this year as a result of the change in FIT policy.

Taiwan expect seeing arrivals from mainland China, which just scrapped policy of FIT, to drop by 0.6 to 0.8 million in the remaining time this year, though some 1.67 million mainland Chinese, up 30%, visited Taiwan in the first half of this year!

A survey by People’s Daily of over 60 families in Beijing found over 60 percent of respondents planning to spend RMB 5000 to 30000 monthly on activities during summer holiday and 70 percent said they felt stressed out by the expenditure.

From Mastercard, contribution of Asia Pacific markets to global tourism expenditure grew by near 100% in the past 10 years, but outbound travelers still account for a small portion of the total population.

From Mastercard, mainland China ranked first accounting for 9.6% of total tourist spending in the 200 destinations in 2018, to be followed by USA at 9.2%.

From Mastercard, World’s most populated countries, namely China, India and Indonesia, respectively made 1, 0.5 and 1.7 overnight trips per 100 residents to the 200 destinations in 2018.

From Mastercard, Australia, which ranked 11th by their travelers’ spending in the world’s top 200 destination cities in 2018, made 42.7 overnight trip per 100 residents

From Mastercard, world’s top five origin markets were respectively USA, Mainland China, Germany, UK and France.

From Mastercard, travelers from South Korea, Japan, Taiwan and mainland China in 2018 accounted for 18.5% of global travel expenditure to the worlds’ top 200 destination cities, a big increase from just 11% a decade ago.

Mastercard, an international credit card company, reported by number of arrivals to the world’s 200 most popular tourism cities and regional destinations in 2018, Asia Pacific account for 40% of the top 20 source markets.

Some 10.35 million arrivals from China (mainland) visited Thailand in 2018, up 7.45%, and a new record.

Arrivals from China in the first 4 months this year to Thailand dropped 3.71% to 4.01 million.

Some 148700 visitors, up 5.6%, from China visited Istanbul of Turkey in the first five months this year.

The survey found 47% respondents went for hiking in their last visit to the city’s country park for an average of 2.5 hours.

The medical school of Hong Kong University commissioned a survey which interviewed 1011 citizens by phone in last September and October. It found in past year 56% respondents visited the city’s country park at least once, each averaging 5.9 visits.

In the first half of 2019, China’s city and township citizens’ Per Capita Disposable Income averaged RMB21342, up 5.7%.

In the first half of 2019, China’s Per Capita Disposable Income averaged RMG15294, up 8.8%, while Median Per Capita Disposable Income was RMB13281, up 9%.

Among the people who booked treatments on above Chinese online plastic surgery portal, 64 per cent were born after 1990 and 19 per cent were post-millennials.

A Chinese online plastic surgery portal reported nearly 20 million people in mainland China have undergone cosmetic surgery by the end of 2018.

Globally, only 5% of mishandled bags are lost or stolen, 18% damaged and an absolute majority of 77% bags only delayed.

Travelers in Asia totaled 1.5 billion in 2018, accounting for 36% of world’s passengers. At 1.77 bags per 1000 passengers, rate of mishandled bags in Asia were about one third of the global rate.

In 2018, globally over 4.27 billion bags were checked in by 4.36 billion air passengers in 2018, with an average of 5.69 bags mishandled for every 1000 passenger journeys.

China’s civil aviation authority has received applications for 19748 additional flights during the summer months of July and August, and among them 1387 international flights mainly to and from northeast and southeast Asia.

A consultancy firm reported in the first quarter this year number of Chinese outbound tourists to their top 20 destinations, which account for some 50% of the country’s total outbound, rose by 6% and is much lower than the corresponding figure of 23% last year.

Number of Chinese tourists visiting USA in 2018 dropped by around 10% to 2.9 million, and one American Jewelry brand reported sale in USA to Chinese tourists in the first quarter this year dropped over 25%.

Several long haul destinations reported drawing fewer tourists from China in April this year compared to same period last year! For examples, New Zealand dropped 21% while Australia by 6%.

In 2017, Chinese tourists made 143 million journeys abroad, to be followed by Germany with 92 million trips, USA with 87.8 million and UK with 74.2 million.

Some 80% of tourists travel within their own region, according to UNWTO. Globally, the top five destinations in 2018 are respectively France, Spain, USA, China and Italy.

The top ten most visited destinations (attractions) around the world in 2018, ranked by Uber for its users, are respectively the Empire State Building and Freedom Tower in New York, CN Tower in Toronto, Arc de Triomphe and Eiffel Tower in Paris, Buckingham Palace in London, the Vatican, Disneyland and the Egyptian pyramids.

From UNWTO, the global tourism trade in 2018 was worth US$1.7 tn, or about 2% of total global GDP.

World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) reported a record 1.4 bn international tourist arrivals in 2018, up 6% over 2017.

China's “ice-snow” tourists on average stay 2.8 days in the destination, and the trend is they will be staying longer each year.

China Tourism Institute projects “ice-snow” tourists of the country in the season of 2021 – 2022 will rise to some 340 million, generating revenue totaling RMB680 billion.

In the first 5 months this year, China's international flights carried 30.21 million passengers, up 16.5%, while domestic flights carried 238 million passengers, up 7.6%.

Some 10.4 million mainland Chinese travelers, up 7.45% over the year before, visited Thailand in 2018, but the number for the first 4 months this year dropped 3.7% to 4.01 million.

In 2018, some 800000 Chinese travelers visited Moscow and the number, in fact, has risen by 20.7% since 2017.

Based on C-trip booking, the top five source market of study tour in China are respectively Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Hangzhou and Nanjing. But the city of Kunming, at RMB33800, rank top market of outbound study tour by per capita spending per trip.

Based on its bookings which this year started as early as March, C-trip, China’s leading travel portal, recently projected number of travelers joining study tours in summer this year will rise by over 50%,

Number of foreign visitors traveling to South Korea for cosmetic surgery, most of them from mainland China, increased year-on-year 37 percent in 2018.

The top five theme parks in Asia, by attendance in 2018, are respectively Tokyo Disneyland with 17.9 million visitors, Tokyo DisneySea with 14.7 million, Universal Studios Osaka with 14.3 million, Shanghai Disneyland with 11.8 million, and Chimelong Ocean Kingdom at Zhuhai with 11.8 million.

Attendance to theme park in the world' s major markets grew some 4% in 2018 and about 252 million people visited the world's top 25 theme parks, up 3.3%.

From TEA, Walt Disney with 157.3 million visitors in 2018 ranked world’s top theme parks group; ranked second is Merlin Entertainment Group with 67 million visitors, and Universal Parks and Resorts no 3 with 50.1 million visitors.

From attraction attendance report by the Themed Entertainment Association (TEA), Walt Disney Magic Kingdom in Florida is the world’s most popular theme park with 20.9 million visitors in 2018, up 2%.

A total of 65563 Chinese tourists arrived Brunei by air in 2018, accounting for 23.6% of all Brunei’s foreign arrivals.

In 2018, around 2.9 million travelers from China visited USA, down 5.7% over the year before and is the first decrease since 2003. USA projects to receive 3.3 million Chinese this year.

A record number of 436000 Chinese travelers visited New Zealand In the year ended April 2019.

From now to 2022, total number of visitors to Asia Pacific theme parks will grow yearly by 3.7% while revenue grow yearly by 6% but increase to 8% by 2022.

Passenger traffic in China’s 13 cruise ports in 2018 dropped 0.98%, but rose by 13.6% to 2.57 million in the Greater Bay Area of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau.

Globally, number of visitors to theme parks all over the world is projected to grow to 1.3 billion in 2022 from the current total of 1 billion! Fueled mainly by new theme parks in China and Malaysia in the coming five years, market share of Asia Pacific will grow to 46% from 43%.

In the first three days of May Day mini-golden week this year, number of Mainland Chinese visiting Hong Kong totaled some 840,000, up almost 40%; while those visiting Macau totaled 437,000, up 42.7%.

Some 7.5 million foreign travelers visited Los Angeles in 2018, and among them 1.2 million from China and they brought they city a direct income totaling US$1.6 billion.

Some 256,000 Chinese tourists, up 11.06%, visited Hungary in 2018.

Airbnb said 97% of the income derived from rent goes to the landlord, and 50% of their tenant tourists’ spending occur in areas around where they stay.

For non-traditional tourism cities and attractions in the Asia Pacific, Airbnb's fastest growing market in 2018 was China which grew 179%, then Vietnam at 111%, Philippines at 100%, Malaysia at 98% and South Korea at 93%.

Airbnb has nearly 0.5 million rooms in and near non-traditional tourism cities and attractions in the Asia Pacific, which in 2018 drew 12 million travelers, up 70% over the year before, and generated revenue totaling USD1 billion.

Among Chinese tourists to the Antarctica, 47% aged between 50 and 70, while 23% were born in the Nineties, from 2018/19 report published by C-trip, a leading travel portal of China.

A total of 8273 Chinese tourists visited the Antarctica in 2018, and the number is expected to breach 10000 in the year 2018/19.

Chinese tourists’ travel spending during peak season in last summer averaged RMB6000 per person per outbound trip and RMB2800 per domestic trip to other province, according to China Tourism Research Institute.

In 2018, China's Hunan province welcomed 875,300 tourists, up 11.5% over the year before, from Hong Kong.

Media reported number of booking of speed train to China for Easter Holiday this month from Hong Kong tourists totaled some 100,000.

In the financial year 2017/18, Hong Kong had 213,000 salary tax payers, up 8.5%, with annual salary over HK$900,000 who account for 11.4% all tax-payers; and 239,000 tax payers, up 10.6%, with annual salary ranging from HK$600,000 to HK$900,000 who account for 12.8% of all tax payers.

Travelers from Greater China spent in 2018 in Switzerland 1.72 million man-nights, up 6.1%, and around three quarters of Chinese tourists interested in outdoor activities.

In 2018, Paris itself welcomed 800,000 tourists from China, up 3.2%, and among them at least 40% are FIT.

Chinese tourists top France’s inbound by spending on shopping! From tax refund data, average transaction of Chinese tourists in France in 2018 value at EURO1525.

1.8 million Chinese tourists visited Paris and neighboring areas in 2018, with around 50% traveling in FIT. Chinese arrivals increased 3.7 times in the past ten years between 2008 and 2018.

There are seven provinces with per capita disposable income exceeding RMB10000 in the first quarter of 2019, which are respectively Shanghai, Beijing, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Tianjin, Guangdong and Fujian.

Per Capita Disposable Income of all Chinese citizens in the first quarter of 2019 average RMB8493, up 8.7% over same period last year by nominal value but at 6.8% after deducting inflation.

The Boston Marathon this year drew 30234 runners of whom 951 from China, up some 40% on the 682 Chinese runners in 2018 and three times more than the 309 Chinese runners in 2017.

The survey found female account for 46% of these multi-millionaires with average age of 58, while male account for 54% with average age of 60.

A survey which in past 6 months interviewed 4192 Hong Kong citizens aged between 21 and 79 found a record number of 511,000 citizens have net worth of at least HK$10 million, and 69000 among them have current asset worth HK$10 million or more.

High end tailored made tour tourists in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen in 2018 on average spend RMB 23749 per person per trip.

From C-trip, the top ten Chinese (mainland) cities by popularity of tailored made tour in 2018 are Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Wuhan, Xian and Chongqing.

C-trip, a major travel portal in China, reported its tailored-made tour platform saw 180% increase in the number of order in 2018 and in fact triple digits growth in each of the previous three years.

Last year, Hong Kong sent some 410,000 tourists to the Sichuan province of south-west China, thus ranked the province’s second largest source market! In fact, Hong Kong ranked either its largest or second largest market in the past three years.

Comparing to last year, bookings of package tour to Guangdong by coach during the coming Easter Holiday rise by 30% while cost by 35%, and around half of these tours via the new mega bridge linking Hong Kong, Macau and Zhuhai.

Bookings of package tour to long haul destinations all over the world during the coming Easter Holiday rise by 8% comparing to last year though tours cost 5% more, from the city’s Travel Industry Council (TIC). Popular destinations include Europe, the Mediterranean and the Middle East etc.

Bookings of package tour to short haul destinations in Asia during the coming Easter Holiday that lasts from April 19 to 22 similar to last year though tours cost 3% to 5% more, from the city’s Travel Industry Council (TIC).

Media report quoted Celebrity Cruises who believes MICE business in Asia has much room to grow and cited booking of an Alaska cruise by a direct selling company from Hong Kong for 600 staff in coming June.

62.4% Chinese students studying abroad come from families with annual income of RMB500000 or less, so more now come from mid-level income families instead of upper-middle in the past.

From Chinese media, 53700 more Chinese students went abroad to study in 2018, up 8.83%, but the rate of increase is far slower than that of 11.74% in 2017.

From China’s Ministry of Education, some 662,100 Chinese went abroad in 2018 to study, and among them nearly 600,000 or 90% of the yearly total with own financing.

Survey found 90% respondents will insure their holidays, and 86% of respondents with children think it is important for free insurance coverage for accompanying children.

The insurance company’s survey found for senior Hong Kong citizens aged 61 or above, 77.8% had 1 to 5 outbound holidays in past three years.

An insurance company commissioned a survey which last month interviewed 500 Hong Kong citizens aged between 18 and 80. It found in past 3 years, 64% respondents had 1 to 5 outbound holidays and over 10% had 11 or more outbound holidays.

In 2018, Cambodia welcomed 6.2 million inbound tourists, up 10.7%, of whom around 2 million from China.

Globally, cruise holiday, whose number of travelers grew 78% between 2007 and 2018, account for 3% of the world' s outbound market in 2018.

A report jointly published by VISA and an consultancy firm report the global medical tourism trade worth US$ 50 billion, and will grow by 25% each year in the coming decade.

China accounted for over 30% of the 0.53 million inbound travelers visiting Mongolia in 2018.

The Institute further report the top 10 shopping destinations for China' s outbound last year are respectively Hong Kong, Dubai, Osaka, Macau, Tokyo, Paris, Nagoya, London, Singapore and Kyoto.

The Institute further report the top 20 destinations for China’s outbound last year are Thailand, Japan, Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, USA, Cambodia, Russia, Philippines, Australia, Italy, UAE, Turkey, UK, Maldives, France, Germany, Spain and Sri Lanka.

China Tourism Research Institute report the country’s outbound in 2018 totaled 148.72 million, up 14.7%, and remain World’s largest source market.

Based on its booking for Spring Festival Golden Week this year, C-trip, China’s largest travel portal, reported 48% of its users chose FIT or private tour, which in general cost 23% more than package tour.

Some 1.43 million Chinese travelers visited Australia in 2018, thus China replace New Zealand to become the largest source market.

The China- New Zealand year of Tourism 2019 will begin on March 29 after being postponed in mid-February amid diplomatic tensions between the two countries. Numbers of Chinese visitors to New Zealand is projected to increase to 800,000 by 2024.

China is New Zealand’s second largest tourism market, behind Australia, with more than 450,000 Chinese travelers visited New Zealand in 2018

Top ten destinations popular with Chinese tourists for Chinese New Year this year were Thailand, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, USA, Indonesia, Philippines, Australia, Vietnam and South Korea, based on booking data from the Hotelbeds platform.

In 2018, Hong Kong citizens made 92.21 million departures in 2018, averaging 12.4 departures per person!

3.42 million travelers from mainland China, up 6% over the year before, visited Singapore in 2018 and China again became the city state' s second largest source market.

In 2018, some 105,000 Chinese travelers visited Israel while the corresponding figure for 2015 was 47,000.

In SE Asia, budget carriers have about 1,400 aircrafts on order, while the full service carriers have fewer than 400. Asia Pacific is forecast requiring 16930 new planes through 2037.

According to IATA, global air passenger traffic is set to double in the next two decades with Asia Pacific region where almost 4 billion passenger journeys are expected, having the biggest increase.

China' s tourism industry accounted for 11.04% of the country' s GDP, directly employing 28.26 million and indirectly 79.91 million people in 2018.

In 2018, China' s total outbound increased by 14.7% to 149.72 million, while domestic travelers grew by 10.8% to 5.539 billion.

The ten most popular destinations for Chinese outbound tourists during the Spring Festival this year are Thailand, Japan, Vietnam, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, USA, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.

Xinhua News Agency reported Chinese citizens made some 6.31 million departures in the Spring Festival Golden Week, up 12.48%.

Some 1.3 million Chinese tourists visited Australia in the year ended September 2018, who spent A$11.5 billion (US$8.1 billion) which account for over 25% of all inbound spending.

Some 1.98 million Chinese travelers visited Indonesia in 2018, with per capita spending per trip average US$1139 or RMB7680.

Indonesia hope to attract some 0.2 million Chinese tourists in February to celebrate the Spring Festival Holiday and Chinese Valentine Day there.

Phuket of Thailand project to attract over 0.33 million Chinese tourists during the Spring Festival Holiday, generating revenue for Thailand travel trade totaling Thai baht 10 billion (RMB2.1 billion).

Indonesia project to draw, from China, around 0.2 million tourists in this February and around 3.5 million tourists for the year 2019.

From IATA, total billing of air ticket sales in Hong Kong in 2018 rose by 7% to HK$28,529 million, while number of transactions rose by 13% to 10.7 million.

Based on outbound levy income collected by Hong Kong Travel Industry Council, total revenue of the city' s outbound tour groups grew 8.1% in the year 2018.

Three most popular Asian destinations for solo holiday during the Chinese New Year were respectively Japan, Singapore and South Korea.

Three most popular non-Asian destinations for solo holiday during the Chinese New Year were respectively UK, USA and Germany.

Media quoted a survey commissioned by an international airline, which interviewed last month 1002 Hong Kong citizens between 18 to 39 years old. Nearly 21% of the respondents expressed desire to take overseas holiday alone during the Chinese New Year.

Top two reasons are respectively "going to where one wants to go at any time" chosen by 45% respondents and "enjoy one's own time" at 44%.

Among these Hong Kong bookings of Airbnb, 36% made by those aged 40 or higher and many groups consisting of 4 persons.

Top five destinations for outbound holiday during the Spring Festival this year, based on Airbnb bookings from Hong Kong, were respectively Japan, Australia with some 13000 bookings, Taiwan, South Korea and Thailand.

Hong Kong' s speed train tour groups departed in the mainland before the station opened last year. Impacts of the opening include, for speed train tour groups to neighboring provinces during Spring Festival this year, a 30% rise in number of bookings, cost 10% more and half of these groups depart from Hong Kong.

The Immigration Dept predicted 7.32 million passengers will pass through Hong Kong border during the Spring Festival between Feb 4 and 10.

Our office will be closed from 5-7 Feb 2019 for the Lunar New Year holidays and will resume service on 8 Feb 2019.

Except those to Thailand which cost 8% to 10% more, prices for short haul outbound tours departing from Hong Kong during the Spring Festival this year similar to last year, while booking rise on average by 5%, according to the city’s Travel Industry Council (TIC).

Long haul outbound tours departing from Hong Kong during the Spring Festival this year will cost 5% to 10% more while passenger volume rise on average by 10%, and destinations in Europe and the Mediterranean for examples are popular, according to the city' s travel agents association (TIC).

Further, media reported that 73% of those China's white collar workers working in foreign funded enterprises received yearend bonus, while less than half of those in other private business got the bonus.

Media report that some 75% of China' s white collar workers' yearend bonus are given out in cash, with the balance in kind such as food and daily necessities.

In 2018, only 55% of China's white collar workers received year-end bonus, a significant drop from the 66% in 2017; with the average amount also dropped RMB200 from 2017 to RMB7100 in 2018, reported by an recruitment firm there.

By per capita spending in 2018, Chinese (mainland) tourists in Japan at over Yen 100,000 ranked top, with Hong Kong at around yen 50000 ranked 4th.

In 2018, Chinese (mainland) tourists ranked top accounting for 34.1% all tourists' spending in Japan, and with others of Japan' s top five markets including South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and USA accounted for over 70% of all tourists spending.

In 2018, shopping accounted for 34.7% of all tourists’ spending in Japan, to be followed by hotel / lodging at 29.3% and Food & Drink at 21.7%.

In 2018, some 2.2 million Hong Kong citizens visited Japan, and Hong Kong is Japan's fourth largest source market well before the fifth source market of USA with 1.52 million inbound to Japan.

In 2018, a record of some 8.4 million Chinese (mainland) tourists visited Japan, and China is Japan's largest source market.

Henley Passport Index, which is prepared based on IATA data, ranks markets by number of destinations with visa free entry. China, whose passport holders can visit 74 destinations visa free, ranks 69 in 2019.

From China Tourism Research Institute, in 2017, Hong Kong travelers visiting the mainland accounted for 57.2% of all China' s inbound; and together with inbound from Macau and Taiwan totaled over 110.3 million, accounting for 79% of all China's inbound.

Chongqing, a major city in SW China, drew 7.8% more inbound group tourists during the National Day Golden Week in 2018. Hong Kong, which accounted for 19.8% of all these tourists, is the largest source market.

Media reported in last November the annul number of Chinese overnight arrivals to Davos of Switzerland has been increasing at 30% in each of the past five years, and reached nearly 15000 in 2017.

Globally, 51707 tourists visited the Antarctica in the year 2017 / 18, and among them 16% or 8273 from China and the number possibly rise above 10000 in 2018 /19.

There were some 200,000 home-stay premises in China in 2017, a big jump from around 50000 in 2016, employing directly nearly 2 million staff and generated revenues totaling RMB36.28 billion.

Now, over 1.6 billion tourists visiting China's forest in each year, which account for roughly 30% of the country's domestic travelers, according to senior official from China's State Forestry and Grassland Administration in December 2018.

Each departing visitor now requires to pay, but those bought tickets before January 7, transit passengers departing within 24 hours and children under two years old are exempted.

Each year, Bali draws some 5.9 million tourists, roughly 42% of' s 14 million tourists.

In the first 8months of 2018, Cambodia received over 1.27 million tourists from China, a 72% increase on the same period in 2017.

Macao's gaming revenue in 2018 grew by 14% to MOP302.8 billion, the first time such revenue exceeding MOP300 a year since 2014.

Macao reported its gaming revenue in December 2018 grew, comparing to same period last year, 16.6% to MOP (Pataca) 26.47 billion; and the current growing trend has been continued for 29 months.

Number of arrivals from China to Thailand exceeded for the first time 10 million on December 19, 2017, and a ceremony was held to welcome the 10th million inbound tourist from China.