The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) will work with Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba to analyze user-generated data in real time, providing “unprecedented” insight into tourist behaviour.
The secretary general of this United Nations organization, Zurab Pololikashvili, explained to EFE that, with these joint efforts, it will be possible to access, for example, information from rural areas where it was previously difficult to obtain data on consumer behavior and tourists.
The top leader of this institution, based in Madrid, celebrated last February in China with the Minister of Culture and Tourism, Hu Heping, the reopening of the Asian country to tourism, “the last missing piece” for the recovery of the sector in the world.
Both leaders also met in Madrid last week. “Just as important as the numbers is China’s commitment to placing tourism at the center of its development strategy”, according to the top executive of the UNWTO.
Pololikashvili considers that a sudden return of Chinese tourism to pre-pandemic volumes cannot be expected, but that the process will be gradual, especially in international movements.
In fact, national tourism is already recovering strongly. According to the data handled by the UNWTO from the China Academy of Tourism, during the recent Qingming Festival holidays (between April 2 and 4), Chinese citizens made 102 million internal trips, 144% more than in that period last year.
Country with tourism experience
For Pololikashvili, China”not a beginner” in tourism, but it is a leader, which will be organized next September by the Global Tourism Economy Forum (GTEF), the main platform for decision makers and in which the UNWTO will be the main partner .
The increase in connectivity is key to increasing the flow of tourists, admits the general secretary, who understands that progress must be made in this area hand in hand with the aviation sector.
Chinese tourist outflows abroad totaled 154 million in 2019, around 10% of world tourism, and spending totaled 254.6 billion euros in 2019, 17% of the total outlay in the world on trips and vacations.
The difference between the two percentages of world tourism – of tourists (10%) and out-of-pocket (17%) – gives an idea of the high spending of the Chinese when they travel abroad.
Source: EFE
Source: Gestion
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