This report analyzes travel data from January to October 2016 to summarize trends in outbound independent travel from China. Some key findings include: - September is the peak travel season and January is when the most money is spent overseas. - Short-haul destinations like Japan, Thailand, and South Korea are most popular. European destinations saw a decline. - Travelers are increasingly younger, between 15-33 years old, and highly educated. - Entertainment, fitness, and food are major interests influencing destination choices. - Low-cost airlines are preferred for overseas flights. Debit card use for shopping overseas grew substantially.

1. 2016 Outbound
Free Independent Travelers Report
White Paper on Consumption
Produced by Skyscanner and UnionPay Smart
Translated By Dragon Trail Interactive

2. The report is based on flight search data provided by Tianxun, China’s division of
Skyscanner and by UnionPay Smart, a division of China UnionPay specialized in
business intelligence, customer profiling and precision marketing.
The report utilises data collected from January to October 2016.
The report in Chinese is accessible at http://www.pinchain.com/article/102911
On the Report

3. Chinese Outbound FITs & Spending Trends 2016
September is the peak
season for outbound
travel and January is
the month when
Chinese outbound
travellers spend the
most.
2016 Skyscanner Search Trends for Outbound FITs
JAN
FEB
MAR
APR
JUN
MAY
AUG
SEP
OCT
JUL
JAN
FEB
MAR
APR
JUN
MAY
AUG
SEP
OCT
JUL
N. online searches
2016 Amount spent and number of outbound consumers
Amount spent overseas in
hundreds of millions of RMB
i.e. 559 = 55.9 trillion RMB
N. of consumers going overseas
in tens of thousands
i.e. 1528 = 15.28 million
consumers
20 mill
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
60trillion
RMB
50
40
30

4. 2016 FITs Top Destinations
Short haul destinations are greatly popular with Chinese outbound tourists, whilst
European countries experienced a sharp decline in 2016.
1
54
32
6
7 8 9 10

5. 2016 Top Destinations Among FITs2016 FITs Top Destinations – Year on Year Change
Japan
Thailand
USA
SouthKorea
HongKong
Taiwan
Malaysia
Australia
UK
Singapore
Canada
Russia
Germany
South Korea saw the largest increase in arrivals in 2016, followed by Malaysia.
The UK and Germany saw the sharpest decline.

6. Top Source Cities for Outbound FITs
First tier cities remain the main source of Chinese FITs, but second tier cities saw the
greatest increase in the amount of outbound travelers.
1 Shanghai
2 Beijing
3 Guangzhou
4 Chengdu
5 Hangzhou
6 Chongqing
7 Kunming
8 Shenzhen
9 Tianjin
1
0
Xiamen
Top Source Cities
Shanghai
Beijing
Guangzhou
Chengdu
Chongqing
Hangzhou
Shenzhen
Tianjin
Xiamen
Kunming

7. Destinations According to Source Cities
Hong Kong is a popular destination across different source markets and the USA is
one of the top destinations outside of Asia.
Beijing
Shanghai
Hangzhou
Guangzhou
Chengdu
USA
Japan
South Korea
Japan
UK
South Korea
Thailand
Malaysia
USA
Thailand
HK
Japan
HK
Thailand
South Korea

8. Destinations During CNY and October Week
14%
12%
7%
6%
7%
12%
7% 9%
10%
10%Chinese
New Year
Golden
Week
October

9. 2016 FITs Profile
46% 54%
15-24
yo
31%
25-34
yo
33%
35-44
yo
26%
55 yo
10%
Age
66.3% Undergraduate
17.6% College
6% High School or Less
0.9% Phd and Above
9.2% MBA/ Master
Education
Gender
Travelers are increasingly young with 64% of outbound travelers aged between 15
and 33 years old. 76.4% of FITs have a high level of education.

10. 2016 FITs Interests
40%
Music, movies and
entertainment
15%
Health & Fitness
6%
Gourmet Food
10%
Comic books and games
12%
Travel
11%
Finance news
6%
Photography
40% of FITs consume entertainment such as movies and music, which influences their
travel destinations. A great percentage of FITs is into fitness, which often becomes a key
activity of their overseas travels.

11. Consumption Trends Vary by Destination
Large shopping malls and duty free shops are popular in most countries, but
purchases vary largely based on destination. In long haul destinations such as the UK
and Australia, accommodation constitutes a large portion of a traveller’s expenses.
Mall
Duty Free
Souvenirs
Mall
Electronics
Pharmacy
Software
Duty Free
Bookstore Food Women’s Clothes
Mall
Mall Tailor
Duty Free

12. Credit cards 45%
+28%
Debit cards 55%
+108%
86%
Women
16%
Men
Consumer Profile and Preferred Payment Methods
Debit cards are greatly popular and have grown by 108% over 2015. Women account
for 86% of all outbound shopping.
Shopping
Payment Method

13. Shanghai
Shenzhen
Beijing
Guangzhou
Hangzhou
Chengdu
Chongqing
Kunming
Tianjin
Xiamen
2016 Spending Based on FITs Source City
Chinese outbound
travelers from first tier
cities are still the largest
spenders overseas.
Second and third tier
cities saw a greater
increase in the number of
outbound consumers,
but their overall
spending is not as
high.
9 mill
6.75
4.50
2.25
0
Number of outbound consumers by source city
Shanghai
Beijing
Shenzhen
Xiamen
Hangzhou
Guangzhou
Kunming
Chongqing
Tianjin
Chengdu
Amount spent overseas by source city
40 trillion RMB
300
200
100
0
+9%
+339%
+10%
+42%+2% +4% -90%-15%
-19%
-1%
+58%
+49%
+25%
+187%
+82% +93%
+72%
+129% +111% +95%

14. HongKong
Macau
SouthKorea
Japan
USA
Thailand
Malaysia
France
Singapore
2016 Spending According to Destination
Most of Chinese
outbound travelers'
spending takes place in
short haul destinations.
The number of overseas
consumers has increased,
but the overall
amount
spent has kept
constant.
20 mill
15
10
5
0
N. Consumers by destination
Amount spent overseas by destination
160 trillion RMB
120
80
40
0
+1.8%
+11.3%
+2.5%
0%-3.8%
-5.6%
-5.2%
+1.8%
+28.1%+9.2%
-9.9%
+16.9%
+1.02%
+46.6%
+41.5%
+27.6%
+75.3%
Taiwan
HongKong
Macau
Japan
SouthKorea
USA
Thailand
Australia
France
Singapore
Taiwan
-32.4% -26%
-14.5%

15. Top 2016 Low Cost Airlines
1 Spring Airlines
2 Eastern Airlines
3 Southern Airlines
4 Cathay Pacific
5 Air China
6 Air Asia
7 Asiana Airlines
8 Juneyao Air
9 Koreana Air
1
0
Hainan Airlines
Top Low Cost Airlines
Most Chinese outbound travelers prefer to fly low cost airlines when travelling
overseas. The top ten list has 4 national low cost carriers.

16. Please contact us,
we would like to hear from you
Dragon Trail Interactive
Phone: +86-10- 6266 7530
Email: info@dragontrail.com
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