More outbound travelers seeking 'personalized' experiences

Li Jie had a frenzied 2024, as he spent more than 200 days leading Chinese travelers across multiple European countries.

"The number of tours I led increased by 40 percent in 2024 compared with 2023," said the Beijing-born tour guide, aged in his 30s. "It was busy, yet fulfilling and exciting."

Li has noticed the way people travel has changed. Over 80 percent of his groups used to consist of 30 or more people, but smaller groups of 15 to 20 are now more common, accounting for over 60 percent of his clientele.

This has allowed him to focus on creating more personalized experiences.

"Chinese tourists are no longer content with whirlwind itineraries abroad. They want to stay longer, dive deeper, and really understand the places they visit. It's about living like a local," Li explained.

During a 13-day tour across Europe, Li arranged for his guests to visit Murren, a mountain village in Switzerland.

"To get there, we took a cable car and then a small train. It's a secluded place where we shared a traditional cheese fondue with locals," he recalled, adding that experiences like these are what his guests cherish most.

Outbound tourism in 2024 continued to recover, nearing the levels of 2019, said Yang Jinsong, director of the Institute of International Research with the China Tourism Academy.

Major features of outbound tourism last year included tourists' high expectations for quality travel experiences, demands for high-quality product development and supply chain optimization, and improvements in convenience, including visas and flight services. All these have fueled the rise in outbound tourism, Yang said.

As short-haul destinations, Southeast Asia and Northeast Asia continue to be popular among travelers, and Belt and Road countries are attracting more Chinese tourists, he said.

Outbound destinations, such as Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia, that offer Chinese travelers visa-free entry, have proved to be big drawcards.

Thailand received 6.7 million Chinese tourists last year, making China the largest source of tourists for the country, according to Thai tourism authorities.

Malaysian tourism authorities reported more than 2.5 million Chinese travelers from January to September, surpassing the same period of 2019, before the pandemic.

"Visa-free policies allow tourists to flexibly decide their travel schedule one to two weeks before departure, truly experiencing the convenience of 'just pack and go'," said Li Mengran, marketing manager at the Beijing-based travel agency Utour, adding that it is a big incentive.

Li said Chinese tourists traveled farther afield last year, with South America, Central Asia, and niche destinations becoming more highly sought after.

"They are asking for more experiential activities, such as making local specialty dishes, visiting local homes, and trying unique modes of transportation," she said.

In-depth tour products have been in high demand, with the length of a single trip gradually increasing.

"For example, the typical Spain-Portugal tour was originally 12 days, but now it is extended to over 20 days. Long-haul destinations like Australia, North America, and South America are offering ultralong trips of 30 days or more," she added.

Travel service platform Fliggy reported that a group of destinations with unique natural and cultural landscapes, along with distinctive experiences, emerged as hot spots for outbound tourism last year.

Bookings to countries such as Nigeria, Zambia, Chile, Turkiye, Serbia, Kazakhstan, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Belgium grew rapidly, Fliggy said.

Major online travel agency Trip.com Group stated that tourists from first- and second-tier cities have taken outbound travel to the next level. They are traveling farther, spending more, and increasing their travel frequency, with European countries, Australia, and New Zealand being popular long-haul destinations.

Meanwhile, tourists from third-and fourth-tier cities contributed faster growth to outbound travel orders last year than those from first-and second-tier cities, with a year-on-year increase of over 130 percent, Trip.com Group said.

Destinations for tourists from third- and fourth-tier cities are mainly short-haul, with 17 out of the top 20 nearby countries. South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and Japan topped the list.

Notably, more young people, especially those born after 1995, have flown abroad to attend concerts, with outbound performance-related bookings on Trip.com growing by 193 percent year-on-year.

The most popular destinations for mainland travelers to attend performances last year were Hong Kong, Macao, Bangkok of Thailand, Incheon of South Korea, Osaka of Japan, and Singapore, the travel agency reported.