Recently, the 2019 Big Data Report on the Outbound Tourism of Chinese Residents to the BRI Destinations was released by LY.com, a Chinese tourism company. 

According to the report, Chinese tourists traveling to the countries and regions along the BRI are relatively concentrated in core cities of mainland China, particularly first-tier and provincial capital cities. Chinese tourists traveling to related countries and cities of the BRI in 2018 were mainly from fifteen cities including Shanghai, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Beijing, Nanjing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

According to the data, Chinese tourists have different understandings of European countries. They are more familiar with history and culture as for Eastern European countries such as Hungary, Croatia, and Poland, focus on culture and luxury shopping of France and Italy, and education and studies of Britain. 

Under this background, the culture and history of Central and Eastern European countries such as the Czech Republic, Hungary, Croatia, Estonia, and Poland have gained great popularity among Chinese tourists, boosting an explosive growth of Chinese tourists in related destinations. Meanwhile, the shopping consumption of Chinese tourists in destinations such as France, Italy and Britain is far higher than tourists from other regions.

Other destinations in Europe such as Russia and Ukraine have always been sought-after among middle-aged and old groups for their revolutionary memories. Owing to the BRI, demands related to trade and business travel have seen rapid growth, and younger Chinese tourists are attracted to these destinations through enhanced non-governmental communication. Besides, periodic sports events (like the World Cup and European Cup) also made a difference in attracting Chinese tourists to Europe last year.

(Executive Editor: Liu LIU)