Boracay among Top 20 destinations for Chinese tourists

Boracay Island FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines– Boracay Island is among the 20 most popular destinations for Chinese travelers, the world’s largest tourism spender, based on data from travel site TripAdvisor.

This is despite the country’s territorial dispute with China that has resulted in some unfavorable travel advisory against the Philippines.

TripAdvisor released a list of the top 20 most popular outbound destinations for mainland Chinese travelers, based on July and August 2013 figures on daodao.com, a highly customized version of TripAdvisor designed specifically for Chinese travelers, based on a statement released from Singapore on Tuesday.

In July and August 2013, millions of unique visitors came to daodao.com to research outbound destinations, representing an increase of over 250 percent compared to the same period last year.

Boracay Island, known for its powdery white beach and wide range of accommodations and activities, ranked 16th on the list beating Kyoto, Kota Kinabalu, Hanoi and Kuala Lumpur but trailing Hong Kong, Phuket, Taiwan, Bangkok and Paris.

The data also showed a 360-percent rise in online inquiries on Boracay for the period in review.

Hong Kong topped the list of popular destinations among, followed by Phuket and Taiwan.

The top 20 most popular destinations based on daodao.com and the year-on-year growth for July and August 2013 are as follows:

1. Hong Kong, China (50 percent)

2. Phuket, Thailand (250 percent)

3. Taiwan (350 percent)

4. Bangkok, Thailand (270 percent)

5. Paris, France (360 percent)

6. Dubai, UAE (210 percent)

7. Macau, China (50 percent)

8. Seoul, South Korea (180 percent)

9. Singapore (170 percent)

10. Bali, Indonesia (310 percent)

11. Rome, Italy (180 percent)

12. Chiang Mai, Thailand (180 percent)

13. New York, United States (280 percent)

14. London, United Kingdom (120 percent)

15. Jeju Island, South Korea (570 percent)

16. Boracay, Philippines (360 percent)

17. Kyoto, Japan (580 percent)

18. Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia (550 percent)

19. Hanoi, Vietnam (510 percent)

20. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (190 percent)

The data also showed that within the top 20 destinations, Kyoto (Japan), Kota Kinabalu (Malaysia), Hanoi (Vietnam) and Jeju Island (South Korea) exhibited the highest year-on-year growth at high triple digits.

Outside of the top 20, destinations on the rise with over four times year-on-year growth users include Siem Reap (Cambodia), Pattaya (Thailand), Sabah (Malaysia) and Berlin (Germany).

In 2012, China exceeded the US and Germany to become the world’s largest source market for outbound tourism by expenditure. As such, capturing a share of this growing market has become a top priority for tourism boards and travel suppliers alike.

According to the China Tourism Academy, the Chinese outbound travel market is estimated to reach 94 million trips in 2013, up 15 percent year-on-year. These travellers are estimated to spend $117.6 billion on their trips, up 20 percent year-on-year.

“This new generation of Chinese outbound travelers 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,” said Lily Cheng, managing director at TripAdvisor China.

“These travelers 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. As they explore outside of mainland China, they are deliberately seeking out websites that have an established international presence to find more deals and more content,” Cheng said.