Surf’s up! More rich young Chinese head to the beach for their holidays

(SCMP) More rich Chinese millennials are hitting the beach for their holidays, with roughly half of the wealthy Generation Yers polled by a research firm heading to overseas islands on their breaks last year. Island holidays were the third most popular option overall among rich Chinese of all ages, surpassing cruises and self-drive holidays, according to the "Chinese Luxury Traveller 2017" report released on Monday. The report was compiled by Shanghai-based wealth research firm Hurun Report and International Luxury Travel Market Asia, and was based on a survey of 334 high-net-worth-income individuals from 12 mainland cities. The respondents had an average age 42 and per capita wealth of 22 million yuan (US$3.23 million). Millennials also went on holiday in search of good food (24 per cent) and leisure (30 per cent), the report said. Hurun Report chairman Rupert Hoogewerf said luxury travellers went abroad an average of 3.3 times, and for an average of 27 days in total last year. Nearly 70 per cent of the time spent overseas was for personal travel – 5 percentage points higher than 2015 – with the rest of the time for business. "Sixty per cent of high-net-worth Chinese families are now willing to pay 3,000 yuan for a night of hotel accommodation and fly business or first class, impossibly high figures compared with a decade ago," Hoogewerf said. According to the survey, mainland high-end travellers budgeted an average of 3,800 yuan per night for accommodation, with 32 per cent of the respondents spending more than 5,000 yuan per night. The top two factors in choosing a hotel were quality of personal service and view. The top destination in travel plans for the next three years was Europe, with almost half of the respondents planning to go there during that period. The Americas was second overall with 38 per cent but the second choice among millennials was the Oceania region, with 37 per cent. Horse riding, surfing and sailing are the top three activities the respondents would most like to try in the next three years. The report said customised travel services were expected to expand, with half of the luxury travellers saying they had used such services and 40 per cent saying they would use them in the next three years. Only about 10 per cent said they preferred traditional group tours. More than 120 million Chinese people travelled abroad last year, up 4.3 per cent from 2015, according online travel agent Ctrip and the China Tourism Academy, which is administered by the China National Tourism Administration. They spent a total of US$109.8 billion while travelling abroad, or an average of US$900 per person. Source: South China Morning Post by Alice Yan from China Travel & Tourism News http://ift.tt/1iB6EFm