Tuesday, June 21, 2005
Have Money, Will Travel
One of the most memorable features of Japan's economic boom in the 1980s was the sight of hordes of Nikon-toting travellers descending upon every tourist sight from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Sydney Opera House. Today, it's the turn of the Chinese. The Economist has two articles on the subject; the first, on domestic travel:
As the Chinese get richer they are travelling more—increasingly in their own cars—and demanding clean and safe accommodation for a reasonable price. Domestic brands are expanding aggressively. Home Inn, a budget brand part-owned by Ctrip, a Chinese online travel agency, opened its first hotel in 2002 and now has around 50. It will double that number by the end of 2006. Jin Jiang Inn, which also owns Shanghai's famous Peace Hotel, operates some 60 economy hotels and plans to invest 1 billion yuan in a further 200 hotels in five years and more than 1,000 in the longer term.
and the second, on visits to Britain:
At the moment, Chinese visitors can travel to Britain only on business or student visas. But from the end of July, they will be allowed to visit Britain as tourists, thanks to an agreement signed by the British and Chinese governments earlier this year. [An advance party] ... were not on tourist visas, but their itinerary—London, Oxford, shopping—was more like that of tourists than of the wealthy businessmen and cash-strapped students who can already visit.
I've already noticed that the public places of New York and Washington DC are increasingly filled with voices speaking Mandarin, where a decade ago Japanese would have been the language of choice. Chinese Century, here we come!
As the Chinese get richer they are travelling more—increasingly in their own cars—and demanding clean and safe accommodation for a reasonable price. Domestic brands are expanding aggressively. Home Inn, a budget brand part-owned by Ctrip, a Chinese online travel agency, opened its first hotel in 2002 and now has around 50. It will double that number by the end of 2006. Jin Jiang Inn, which also owns Shanghai's famous Peace Hotel, operates some 60 economy hotels and plans to invest 1 billion yuan in a further 200 hotels in five years and more than 1,000 in the longer term.
and the second, on visits to Britain:
At the moment, Chinese visitors can travel to Britain only on business or student visas. But from the end of July, they will be allowed to visit Britain as tourists, thanks to an agreement signed by the British and Chinese governments earlier this year. [An advance party] ... were not on tourist visas, but their itinerary—London, Oxford, shopping—was more like that of tourists than of the wealthy businessmen and cash-strapped students who can already visit.
I've already noticed that the public places of New York and Washington DC are increasingly filled with voices speaking Mandarin, where a decade ago Japanese would have been the language of choice. Chinese Century, here we come!
