iClick’s New Travel Retail Publication Launch - “A Practical Guide to Engaging with Chinese Travelers: China Travel Retail Market Facts and Tips to Know [2023 Edition]

China is one of the largest travel and tourism markets in the world. Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, the outlook for Chinese outbound tourism remains optimistic, with a strong rebound expected in the coming years. According to the forecast of China Outbound Tourism Research Institute, the number of outbound trips is expected to reach 115 million by the end of 2023, showing a strong desire for overseas travel.

China has eased its zero-COVID policy and reopened its borders to tourists after three years of COVID-19 closure. The border reopening is a significant step towards economic recovery and the resumption of cross-border activities. According to travel platform Trip.com, outbound travel orders surged 640 percent YoY over the Chinese New Year holiday, while Chinese mainland tourists' bookings for overseas hotels and international flight tickets both soared more than four times over the same period of last year.

China, the world's largest market for outbound travel pre-COVID, reopened its border to international travelers on Jan 8 2023, lighting up prospects for global economic recovery. According to Trip.com Group data, overseas travel orders for the seven days during Spring Festival had surged by 540% YoY. It is expected that overseas tourist destinations will welcome an influx of Chinese tourists during the holiday.

After 14 years of development, China’s Double 11 Shopping Festival has matured. This year, instead of announcing sales results, E-commerce platforms are focusing more on achievements in areas such as helping farmers, going green and environmental protection, as well as long-term retention and conversion of core customers.

Hainan’s duty free retailers have fully resumed business since September after a COVID-enforced 47-day closure just in time to welcome visitors for Golden Week celebrations and the grand opening of China Duty Free Group’s Haikou International Duty Free Shopping Complex and its 280,000 sqm duty free zone i.e. CDF Haikou International Duty Free City, which is dubbed as the world’s largest single duty free store.

In recent years, Metaverse became one of the buzzwords, a concept linked with technologies such as augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), artificial intelligence (AI), and the Internet of Things (IoT) and has elevated buzz in countries such as China. According to iiMedia Research, a survey conducted in 2021 among Chinese netizens, over 70 percent of respondents stated that they had a sufficient understanding of metaverse, the most popular applications were game IP avatars, followed by personal and community virtual spaces. Riding on the growing popularity of the metaverse, fashion brands can now interact with consumers in more diversified touchpoints, bringing new virtual shopping experiences to the industry. According to China Metaverse Investment and Financing Data Report, China’s metaverse industry has received at least USD 780 million investment in 2022. With the emergence of the metaverse, Chinese fashion brands can engage their customers more digitally and creatively. Check out our 5th issue of “iSuite Insights Spotlight – Chinese metaverse-related fashion brands in the Spotlight”, leveraging the latest Chinese netizens’ data provided by the iAudience platform to understand the profiles, demographics, and psychographic dimensions of audiences interested in metaverse fashion.

International tourism gains strong momentum and continues to show signs of recovery as restrictions ease. Outbound tourism spending from France, Germany, Italy and United States reaches 70-85% of pre-pandemic levels. It is time for brands to prepare for consumers getting re-acquainted with in-store shopping. Check out the third issue of iClick’s Travel Retail insights to learn about the impact of COVID-19 on consumer behavior and the winning post-pandemic market strategies for travel retail.

The world ‘how people eat’ is changing dramatically, and the demand for food delivery is booming with a growth rate that has been over 20% over the last five years, more than tripled since 2017. The market size has grown nearly 40-fold and has reached 811.7 billion yuan in 2021. According to Expert Market Research, China’s online food delivery market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 112% between 2022-2027. The online food delivery market is highly competitive in China, the giant online food delivery platform – Meituan and ele.me taking around 95 percent of China's online food delivery market. Online food delivery in China was growing rapidly before the pandemic and even faster during the pandemic. The online food delivery platforms offer great convenience and efficiency to consumers with the ability to quickly order meals or groceries in just a few clicks. According to Statista, the China online food delivery market is forecasted to reach 941.71 billion RMB in 2022, making China the largest online food delivery market in the world. Based on iAudience data, we have traced and profiled Chinese netizens who browsed the online food delivery platforms, highlighting their audience profiles, preferences and online behavior to help marketers better understand the trend and insights in the Chinese online food delivery market.

The long-awaited global travel recovery is finally here. In Q1 2022, international tourism recorded encouraging growth, a 182% y-o-y increase. Destinations worldwide are expecting the return of the lavish Chinese travelers. However, the one question on every industry stakeholder’s mind is “Will the Chinese travelers return?”, given the rise of domestic tourism and travel retail consumption in China.