LUXURY travel in the Middle East is proving to be a huge draw for high-end Chinese tourists looking to splash their cash, with tourism stakeholders in Abu Dhabi and Dubai saying the market is showing no signs of slowing down.

Fiona Liu, senior executive, China Representative Office, department of tourism and commerce marketing (DTCM), government of Dubai, said: “We are expecting a 25 per cent jump in Chinese arrivals this year. There were 180,000 Chinese visitors for the first three quarters of 2012, compared to 193,000 for the whole of 2011.”

Tina Zhang, senior executive-travel trade, China, Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority, explained that the Chinese were attracted by the notion that Dubai and Abu Dhabi were high-end destinations offering luxury hotel stays, indulgent cuisine, duty-free shopping, and activities such as desert safaris, horse racing, camel riding, tennis and golf.

“The burgeoning demand for the Middle East is due to ramped up promotions in China by the Abu Dhabi and Dubai tourism authorities,” she said.

Kiven Xing, supervisor, inbound tours operation, Golden Ocean Travels Dubai, noted that 90 per cent of his business now originates from China. “Since the DTCM sanctioned the large scale movement of Chinese tourists to Dubai in 2008, many inbound operators have been actively targeting the China market, which has grown by leaps and bounds.”

Triston Zhao, senior sales manager, Atlantis The Palm, Dubai, said business from China had been especially encouraging since the property opened a representative office in Shanghai in May last year.

“This year, we even managed to meet our annual targets by October, and have racked up 20,000 roomnights from China thus far,” he said.

MORE independent travellers from China are now heading to Germany, and the recently relaxed visa regulations for Chinese nationals are likely to spur the leisure segment even further.

In 4Q2012, the German Embassy in China outsourced its visa application process to TLScontact in Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Shenyang and Guangzhou, according to Li Zhaohui, German National Tourist Office’s (GNTO) director, marketing & sales office China/Beijing. With this, Chinese nationals no longer have to undergo interviews for a German visa and they can now submit their applications via additional means such as post or a third party, she explained.

Said Li: “Besides that, Germany features five direct flights from China, while the country’s self-drive tours and Deutsche Bahn trains will certainly help to lure more FIT traffic from China.”

GNTO will push online deals such as fly-stay packages with OTAs and promotions through Chinese social media websites. Next year, Germany will aim to win the hearts of China’s under-30s – people who are more in tune with Western culture, possess a better command of English and have more disposable income.

In the first seven months of 2012, Germany received 851,997 overnight stays originating from China, a 20.4 per cent year-on-year increase. Visa applications made by Chinese FITs are also on the rise – 3,855 German visas were issued last year to independent travellers in Beijing, almost twice the number issued to groups.

German tourism suppliers have also observed the rise of Chinese FITs. Care Insurance Agency, which specialises in European tours with call centres staffed by Chinese expats across the European Union, has noted a greater uptake of its services by China’s white-collar professionals, according to its Shanghai general manger, Esther Liu. She said: “Chinese agencies used to dominate our bookings, but we have seen a 30 per cent spike in bookings from Chinese FITs since last year.”

NORTH-west China’s Ningxia, the only provincial-level autonomous region in the country with a one-third ethnic Hui population, is keen to woo Muslim tourists from South-east Asia.

Xu Xiaoping, deputy director-general, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region Tourism Administration Bureau, said: “We have vast Islamic cultural and tourism resources that will appeal to South-east Asia’s Muslim travellers. Yinchuan Hedong Airport has special prayer rooms, halal cuisine is readily available (in the destination), and several hotels feature Mecca-direction signages, hence strongly positioning Ningxia as a Muslim tourism destination.”

Xu pointed out that the China-Arab States Economic and Trade Forum – launched in 2010 – has already increased awareness of Ningxia in the Middle East, which is why the bureau is now turning its attention to South-east Asia. He added that the bureau was working with Yinchuan Hedong Airport to invite carriers to launch flights between South-east Asia and the provincial capital.

The bureau conducted a presentation for Singapore and Malaysia tour operators at CITM 2012, showcasing its offerings including homestays with Muslim families and famed mosques.

China Sightseeing International Travel Service Ningxia’s general manager, An Ya Ping, said his company had seen a 20-25 per cent increase in Muslim travellers from South-east Asia over the past two years, with Malaysia, Indonesia and India as its biggest source markets in the region.

An also plans to launch more multi-province tours spanning Ningxia to Beijing, Qinghai and Xiamen, which also have significant Muslim presence.

Said An: “Muslim travellers are more at ease in Ningxia, which possesses closer cultural and religious affinities with Islamic nations than other parts of China. We often see repeat Muslim visitors as well as families who discover Ningxia by word of mouth.”

A SERIES of Bangkok-Lijiang charter flights operated by China Eastern Airlines three times fortnightly since September has proven popular with Thai tourists keen on visiting Yunnan province.

Launched by a consortium of outbound tour operators in Thailand including Quality Express, Dazhong Holiday, Holiday Seasons Travel and Four Seasons Travel, the charter flights will cease at the end of 2012, with a five-month extension on the cards in January.

Thanapol Cheewarattanaporn, managing director of Quality Express, told TTG Asia e-Daily that the flights were always fully booked. His company sends an average of 30-40 pax per flight to Lijiang, with the average budget ranging from 19,900 baht (US$647) for 5D4N to 27,900 baht for 6D5N, all-inclusive.

Programme highlights include visits to ancient towns and natural heritage sites such as Black Dragon Pool, Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, Lugu Lake and Tiger Leaping Gorge.

A Tourism Authority of Thailand official said the tourism markets of Yunnan and Thailand were complementary, and that the charter flights would help catalyse the development of bilateral tourism between the two destinations.

Ding Jianmin, assistant general manager, Shanghai China International Travel Service, said that Bangkok could even become a transit hub for longhaul traffic to Lijiang in the future.

“The four major transit hubs in Asia are Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Bangkok. Since Bangkok is (very popular with) European travellers, I expect more Europeans to be keen on visiting Lijiang if regular scheduled services are introduced (on this route),” he said.

However, Quality Express’ Thanapol doubted that the Bangkok-Lijiang charter flights would be extended beyond their present cut-off date.

“There are already many scheduled flights operated by Thai Airways International, Orient Thai Airlines and even China Eastern from Bangkok to Kunming (the capital of Yunnan). These connections are much cheaper,” he explained.

Additional reporting by Hong Xu

BEST Western International’s prominent stock of three-star hotels in Asia, which comprises 60 per cent of its total portfolio in the region, has proven to be a boon in its pursuit of the Chinese traveller market.

Paul Suvodip, the company’s regional manager, sales & revenue, Asia & Middle East, told TTG Asia e-Daily that Best Western properties in Asia have been seeing “exponential growth” out of China, a result of the country’s “huge middle-income population”.

Today, China is among the company’s top source markets, which include Russia, Germany, the UK and South Korea, for its Asian property portfolio.

Suvodip said: “The middle-income Chinese are travelling a lot more today, and they tend to stay with mid-range properties. It helps that the bulk of our hotels in Asia are in the three-star category. As the Best Western brand is well-established in China now, Chinese travellers are willing to book with us when they head to Asia.”

The chain has more than 30 hotels in operation across China today, as well as two each in Hong Kong and Macau.

He added: “Chinese travellers are also exploring more of Asia. Most of our bookings out of China used to be for our Bangkok hotels. Now, we are seeing more demand for our hotels in Phuket and Malaysia.

“That said, Bangkok is still popular with the Chinese market. A Thai travel consultant we work with told me recently that he handles 40-50 busloads of Chinese travellers every month. They would stay two to three nights each time. And this is just coming from one travel agency, so you can imagine how well our travel agency partners can help to fill our hotels with Chinese travellers.”

GUANGDONG Chimelong Group will unveil in the middle of next year its new Chimelong International Ocean Resort in Zhuhai, a prefecture-level city on the southern coast of China’s Guangdong province.

The mega resort’s general manager, Ivan Leung, said the property would feature a 1,888-room ocean-themed luxury hotel, a man-made beach with a wave pool, and various MICE facilities including a 3,000m² grand ballroom, a 1,300m² ballroom and 24 smaller function rooms.

According to Leung, water taxis will provide transfers between the hotel and the Ocean Kingdom water theme park via a 1km canal. Covering 500,000m², the park will offer nine different rides, three separate shows featuring sea lions, dolphins and beluga whales, as well as the largest aquarium in the world, filled with 24,000 cubic tonnes of water.

Erica Zhang, director of sales & marketing, Chimelong Hotel Guangzhou, said the Chimelong International Ocean Resort would target leisure and MICE traffic from China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, as well as overseas markets such as Singapore and Malaysia.

While declining to reveal projected room rates at the upcoming property, she indicated that they would be similar to other five-star hotels in the region.