Outbound Tourism from China Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Outbound Tourism from China - Essay Example Furthermore, the number of Chinese traveling to other abroad grew by over 25 per cent between 2000 and 2006 "BNET". For instance, in the year 2005 the Chinese made 31 million overseas trips (Cochrane 2008). The current high figures of outbound tourism from China did not grow overnight. China's policies in the past were restrictive and this minimized the number of travels by the Chinese in years before 1990 (Wen & Tisdel, 2001). For example, before 1990, the Chinese's travel abroad was mainly restricted to official visits or commercials functions rather than for holiday or leisure (Wen & Tisdel, 2001). Good tidings came in 1990 when China began relaxing its policies on outbound travel, first allowing visits to Southeast Asian counties for tourism purposes (Gu & Ratliff 2006). Perhaps this is the reason why outbound travel by the Chinese to the countries in this region is high. Along this line, "BNET" noted that the vast majority of overseas trips made by Chinese in 2005 were targeted for Hong Kong and Macau. In the 1998, the total number of Chinese who made overseas trips was 8.4 million, of which 5.2 travellers were doing business while the rest were on private functions (Wen & Tisdel, 2001). China's rising middle class income and an increasing crave to see the rest of the world make the country a significant outbound tourism market (Wen & Tisdel, 2001).. As cited above, China is progressively easing foreign travel policies and this adds impetus on the need to travel abroad. The rising levels of disposable income among the Chinese and constant exposure to foreign countries through television and the Internet have greatly contributed to the increase in outbound tourism from China (Prasad & Barnett 2004). The increase in number of travel agencies is indicative of the increase in number of outbound tourists. As an illustration, the number of travel agencies rose from 6,222 in 1998 to 11,552 in 2002 (Prasad & Barnett 2004). That a rise incomes among the Chinese and outbound travel policies have been phenomenal in promoting China's outbound tourism cannot be gainsaid. However, the two factors per se cannot be acclaimed to be determinants of outbound tourism. Other factors such as government limitations on the countries to which to travel come into play. For example, there is a list of countries that have an "Approved Destination Status" to which Chinese can freely travel (Lew et al 2002). Outside these countries, Chinese towards are perceived to be risking their lives (Lew et al 2002). The above factors and many others such as personal preferences and choices affect China's outbound travel. A discussion of the same and appraisal of relevant statistics forms the basis of discussion of this paper. Factors that have promoted China's outbound travel and tourism Changes in outbound travel policy China had a strict outbound travel policy that barred the Chinese from traveling overseas until 1983 (Zhang, Pine & Lam 2005). The Chinese government