iClick and EY Launched the Chinese Travel Shoppers 2022 Whitepaper

Xiaohongshu (XHS), China's leading social commerce platform dedicated to enriching lives, has transformed into a vibrant community where users enthusiastically share insights about fashion, beauty, food, travel, and more. Seamlessly integrating content, community, and ecommerce, XHS stands as the ultimate destination for Chinese consumers.

The 618 Shopping Festival, originating from the Chinese e-commerce giant Taobao, has evolved into a massive shopping extravaganza in the Chinese e-commerce market. Today, it includes many other prominent platforms like Alibaba's Tmall, Douyin, and Xiaohongshu, magnifying its reach and impact.

The Chinese Labor Day Holiday is an exciting time for the tourism market. The 2023 Labor Day Holiday is the first "Golden Week" holiday since lifting travel restrictions. It showcased a remarkable surge in outbound travel, with spending surpassing pre-pandemic levels. Data from Ctrip shows that overall outbound travel booking volume climbed by about 700% compared to the same period in the previous year, with outbound air ticket and hotel booking volume jumping by almost 900% and 450%, respectively, compared to the same period in 2022.

We are glad to announce that the digital version of iClick’s latest publication on travel retail “A Practical Guide to Engaging with Chinese Travelers: China Travel Retail Market Facts and Tips to Know [2023 Edition]” has been released today to coincide with iClick’s presence at the prestigious TFWA Asia Pacific Exhibition & Conference (May 8-11).

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.

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.