Destinations known | Why Indian tourists are nothing like their Chinese counterparts, yet
- Anticipating a slump in Chinese arrivals amid the trade war and economic slowdown, destinations in Asia are increasingly looking to Indian tourists to make up shortfall
- But factors from passport strength to spending power indicate travellers from world’s two most populous nations not that similar
Chinese tourists are difficult to ignore, whether in the news or on holiday. But when you consider that travellers from the Middle Kingdom made 140 million outbound trips in 2018, according to state-owned English-language news channel CGTN, the fact that they are in your feed and on the ground is, frankly, not that surprising.
However, pundits perturbed by current trade-war tensions, a diplomatic row with Canada and China’s economic slowdown are predicting that tourism will take a hit in the months ahead, meaning that destinations dependent on their biggest spending visitors could feel the pinch unless they diversify their source markets.
Increasingly, Asian holiday hotspots are looking to the region’s other very populous country with a fast growing economy and outbound tourism industry. Airlines have been adding routes between India and Thailand, while Australia saw record arrivals from both China and the subcontinent in 2017, a trend that is expected to continue.
Indian tourists have a long way to go to catch up with their well-travelled Chinese counterparts, though. According to the most up-to-date statistics available from India’s Ministry of Tourism, a mere 24 million outbound trips were made by its 1.3 billion inhabitants in 2017. The United Nations World Tourism Organisation estimates that figure will reach 50 million by 2020, driven by a growing and increasingly affluent middle class, but that is only where China was in 2009, when almost 48 million of its citizens made journeys beyond its borders.
Back then, American tourists were still considered the worst in the world, denounced for their rudeness, vulgarity and general obnoxiousness. It was not until 2013, when 15-year-old Ding Jinhao from Nanjing etched his name into Egypt’s ancient Luxor Temple, bringing shame upon his nation and alerting the international media to the “virality” of stories about misbehaving Chinese, that travellers from China took the undesirable crown. That year, overseas visits swelled to 98 million, according to the China Outbound Tourism Research Institute, and the reports of improper antics have multiplied as the number of outbound trips has increased.
A number of factors are holding Indian travellers back from becoming the next dominant wave.