Bloomberg Intelligence analysts suggest that it is China’s millennial population of adults aged 18-34 that are fuelling a boost to the global travel market.
“China, led by younger adults, has become vital to the global travel market’s growth,” according to Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Brian Egger and Margaret Huang, citing industry tracker Phocuswright Inc. “As China’s travel market takes off, all eyes should be on the country’s roughly 400 million millennials, who will drive spending on airfare, hotels, theme parks, casinos and cruises.”
In 2015, Chinese made 128 million trips abroad. Adults ages 18-34 accounted for about 60 percent of outbound travellers that year – compared to just 10% of trips being taken by those over 45.
Chinese will take almost 70 percent more trips overseas in 2020 compared to 2015, fueling growth in tourism and aiding transportation and infrastructure.
Travel accounted for 9 percent of China’s economy last year, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council. The Council projects the industry growth will average 8 percent annually from 2017 to 2027.
Boeing Co. this month raised its forecast for aircraft demand in China to 7,240 new planes. Rival Airbus SE is courting China with its first factory outside Europe to build wide-body jets.
Authorities plan to double annual investment in the sector in the five years through 2020, when they aim to spend 2 trillion yuan ($304 billion) on infrastructure.
“The rapid growth in China’s tourism industry is a key driver in the country’s shift to a consumer-oriented economy,” Egger and Huang wrote.
Recently, China Evergrande Group announced that it plans to build 15 Children’s World theme parks in second-tier cities across China.
Construction is planned between 2019 and 2022, reports Quartz Media.
The theme parks are expected to attract more than 15 million visitors and generate around $3 billion in revenue per annum.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-09-21/china-s-young-globetrotters-are-driving-world-travel-gains
