China’s millennials are driving world travel growth

Chinese will take almost 70 per cent more trips overseas in 2020 compared to 2015, fuelling growth in tourism and aiding transportation and infrastructure, the analysts said in a report this week. In 2015, Chinese made 128 million trips abroad, government data show, with adults ages 18-34 accounting for about 60 per cent of outbound travellers that year, according to Phocuswright.

Travel within the world’s most populous nation is booming as consumers with more disposable income seek more exotic experiences and far-flung destinations than their parents. Industry growth is underpinning a broad range of domestic activity, from ski resorts and tropical hotels to high-end manufacturing of trains and planes. This change is accelerating the economy’s transition away from the old smokestack drivers of growth.

Travel accounted for 9 per cent of China’s economy last year, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council, which projects the industry growth will average 8 per cent annually from 2017 to 2027, outpacing other major economies like India and the US.

A summer travel boom lifted air passenger traffic 8.7 per cent on year in August to a record 50.5 million journeys, the aviation administration said Monday. There will be 710 million trips during the Oct. 1-8 national holidays, the China Tourism Academy forecast Tuesday, up 10 per cent from last year.

Boeing Co. this month raised its forecast for aircraft demand in China to 7,240 new planes valued at almost US$1.1 trillion in the two decades through 2036, and rival Airbus SE is courting China with its first factory outside Europe to build wide-body jets. The state enterprise building China’s first large airliner announced this week it had 730 orders for the new plane.