Mainland Chinese: Most Frequent Outbound Travelers

The Visa and Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Asia Pacific Travel Intentions Survey 2010 reveals that mainland Chinese travelers plan to travel most out of all Greater China travelers. On an average, mainland Chinese travelers are planning for 7.4 business and leisure trips in the next two years, compared with the 5.6 and 4.5 trips anticipated by Hong Kong and Taiwan travelers.

Asia Pacific continues to be the number one destination region for Greater China leisure travelers over the next two years, followed by Western Europe and North America. Hong Kong remains a top leisure travel destination. Australia and Japan are the top picks in Asia Pacific over the next two years. One in three intends to take four to six domestic holidays in the next two years.

Natural scenery, sunshine and beaches and new places are key attractions for mainland Chinese. They are willing to pay extra for good food, cultural experiences and exotic destinations. They also have a preference for environment friendly tourism and cultural immersion programs.

Almost 80 percent of mainland Chinese travelers go online for travel information. Popular online sources are online travel guides (general and search engine), travel forums and travel agent booking websites.