Hotel & Tourism
SMARTreport #32
2016 Winter Edition
7
EVOLUTION IN CHINESE
OUTBOUND TOURISM
Exclusive interview with the CFO of Tuniu – instrumental
in package tour growth
F
ounded in 2006, today, Tuniu has become the number one player in
China’s online leisure travel market. In this exclusive interview, we
first asked Conor Yang, Chief Financial Officer of Tuniu Corporation,
how the Chinese outbound tourism is evolving…
The Chinese outbound market has
grown rapidly in the recent years.
We expect the market to maintain its
fast growth in the near future mainly
due to a few reasons. First, the
consumption power here in China as
measured on a GDP per capita basis
has reached a critical point. Chinese
people now have enough disposable
income to spend on new experiences
such as travelling abroad. Secondly,
the application process for a visa to
a foreign country is becoming easier
for Chinese citizens. This allows more
Chinese people to have the ability to
visit new countries where previous
restrictions limited them. When you
combine these two factors, we can
expect the growth momentum of
Chinese outbound tourism to remain
very strong.
How is luxury travel developing for
Chinese tourists?
Although luxury travel remains in a
developmental phase here in China,
it is growing at an accelerating pace.
This is due to the fact that China
has one of the largest populations
of high-net-worth individuals in
the world and one of the most
favourable environments for luxury
travel. If you couple the Chinese
demographic with the increasing
crave for a luxury experience, you’ll
get a very fast growing market for
luxury travel in China.
How could you best describe
Tuniu’s mid-term roadmap?
Given our established position in
packaged tours, we will put increased
emphasis in self-guided tours. To do
that, we will strengthen our offerings
in air ticketing and hotel booking
while also expanding our coverage
of destination-based products. We
are confident that we can leverage
our experience in packaged tour and
understanding of Chinese travellers
to rapidly strengthen our presence
in self-guided tours, and to continue
increasing our market share in
China’s attractive online leisure travel
market.
Conor Yang
Chief Financial Officer,
Tuniu Corporation
ALTHOUGH LUXURY
TRAVEL REMAINS IN
A DEVELOPMENTAL
PHASE HERE IN CHINA,
IT IS GROWING AT AN
ACCELERATING PACE
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
