Nearly 7 million Chinese citizens are expected to travel to celebrate the Chinese New Year. Some popular destinations will greatly benefit from these festivities and others are gaining in attractiveness.
Tuesday, February 5, will mark the beginning of a new year in China. The week around this holiday, which will be under the zodiac sign of the pig, will provide tourism stakeholders to welcome a surge in Chinese celebrants.
In 2018, 6.5 million Chinese people travelled abroad during the seven-day holiday period, according to the National Tourism Office of China. This figure is expected to grow by nearly half a million for this Chinese New Year, the week of February 4, 2019.
Foreign destinations that are expected to benefit most from the influx of tourists are, according to Hotelbeds, initially those closest to the Middle Kingdom: Thailand, Japan, Singapore and Malaysia. The United States closes the top 5.
Some markets are multiplying actions to seize this tourist opportunity, such as Australia, which will organize parades in cities with local Chinese communities. The country should be host the 8th most Chinese tourists during the week of February 4.
Finally, many industries plan to take advantage of the Chinese craze at this time of year, which is favorable to consumption: Givenchy is launching a "Lunar New Year" collection and the Air Jordan brand has unveiled its new "Chinese New Year" sneakers.
However, no European destinations appeared in the top 10 for arrivals this year: Spain and Italy, now ranked 11th and 12th, were replaced by Vietnam and South Korea. While a lack of communication on their part may have been the cause of this downgrade, the decline in the exchange rate of the renminbi against the euro since mid-June has impacted the purchasing power of Chinese tourists in Europe.
