The surge in Chinese outbound tourism is boosting domestic companies' overseas acquisitions in travel industry. As more high-spending Chinese visitors go abroad, they become a lucrative source of business for hotels, restaurants, retailers and destinations.China has been the world's largest outbound travel market since 2012, according to the United Nations World Tourism Organization.
China is the world's largest outbound market since 2012. In 2014, the number of Chinese tourists traveling abroad increased by 19.5 percent year on year to 109 million, topping a threshold of 100 million for the first time in history, according to China National Tourism Administration (CNTA).
Many people prefer to organize their own holiday instead of using tour companies. Between January and September of 2013, almost 4 million Chinese visited Thailand; 3 million of them went there on their own, and roughly 80% of mainland Chinese visited Hong Kong by themselves. By booking flights, hotels and other self-serviced products online, the number of visitors traveling independently surpassed those who utilized organized tours to become the main force of China’s outbound tourism market.
