According to a data revealed by Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2020 ,Chinese visitors are expected to spend US$3.48 billion in GCC region by 2023. The total Chinese tourists inflow to the region expected to increase 54% from 1.4 million in 2018 to 2.2 million in 2023.
Colliers International foresees China to be a top source market across the GCC, predominantly in the UAE region, where Chinese tourists are at present the second and fourth highest ranked source markets for Abu Dhabi and Dubai, respectively.
The data predicts that for Chinese tourists, UAE will continue to be the favourite GCC destination with a projected 1.9 million visitors by 2023 while Saudi Arabia to follow with 1 million visitors, Oman to welcome 76,900, Bahrain 26,300 and Kuwait 2,800.
According to Danielle Curtis, the Exhibition Director ME, Arabian Travel Market, China has strengthened its link with GCC in recent years with the opening of additional and direct airline routes; hassle-free visa regulations; the strong rise in Chinese economy and growing disposable income of Chinese tourists.
The Colliers data said while travelling abroad, Chinese tourists are the world’s highest spenders. The total outbound travel and tourism spend of Chinese visitors reached US$277 billion in 2018.
In 2018 Bahrain witnessed the highest Chinese tourist spend with the average spend per visit at $2,567, followed by Saudi Arabia with an average spend per trip at US$1,582 and very closely followed by the UAE at $1,459.
According to the Chinese Outbound Travel Research Institute (COTRI) in collaboration with C-Trip,Bahrain though experienced the highest average spend last year, but UAE that ranked the 9th most popular destination in the world for the 1.67 million Chinese outbound High Net-Worth Individual (HNWI) travellers, those projected to spend an average of $3,410 on their travel package alone that excludes additional spend on F&B, retail and leisure activities.
