The “Golden Week” travel this year, millions of Chinese abroad. Especially in the middle class, the desire to travel is growing. This gives China a political trump card in the Hand, writes Frank Sieren.
At first glance, the shaky footage of a on the curb-merciful and wailing of the family looked as if it came from a crisis area. The pictures were taken in front of a Hostel in the Swedish capital of Stockholm. At the beginning of September and wanted to check in, a young man from China at night with his elderly parents. Unfortunately, a good half a day earlier than booked. As they did not want to go voluntarily again the visitors were bundled unceremoniously out on the street and later by the police at a metro Station close to the station exposed. Said Video of the incident was not only in the social media of China once more, the discussion about the poor reputation of Chinese tourists to the boil. You don’t meet them abroad with enough respect, defendant. Outside of your own country for you to behave simply outrageous, the other.
Chinese tourists as an economic factor
The fact is: the Chinese tourist is more. To them, the future of an entire industry. This week we will travel during the “Golden Week”, some 700 million Chinese, seven million of them abroad. The “largest annual human migration in the world”, as traditionally, on the national holiday subsequent Chinese holiday week is fondly called, is an invention of the government. In 1999, she was 50. Anniversary of the people’s Republic launched, and should stimulate mainly Domestic tourism. Since the prosperity come growing middle class of the country has discovered her desire to travel is China but also in the global mass tourism has become a decisive economic factor. And not just for the “Golden Week”.
Frank Sieren
This year, about 156 million citizens from the middle Kingdom will make a trip abroad. And the trend is rising. Ten years ago, there were just 44 million. The most popular destinations in the neighboring countries of Thailand, Japan and Vietnam. But also in Europe, the Americas and Australia, the Chinese tourists are on the rise. “They are important because they combine two things,” says Rafael Cascales, President of the Spanish-Chinese tourism organization ATEC. “They come in large number and spend four Times more money than tourists from other countries.” Especially in the case of city trips, the Chinese edition of happy. On average, you can easily make 350 dollars per day, mostly for food, clothing, cosmetics and jewelry.
Glossy brochures promoting destinations worldwide
Many tourism Offices already try to make the Chinese own the country, with advertising and brochures in Mandarin palatable. France attracts to a wine tasting to Bordeaux. Saxony relies on Bach and the Semper Opera. For the EU, where in the tourism sector, ten percent of the total economic output generated, and around 25 million people are employed, the Chinese are a welcome stability and growth factor, especially since you anti holiday due to the often cyclical to the traditional Western high-season.
Chinese women in castle Schwanstein in Bavaria
But there is also a dark side to the tourism boom. While European destinations such as Venice and Neuschwanstein groan under the Chinese onslaught, he’ll be a danger elsewhere, very real-the natural balance – and, therefore, exactly what are the places made to target only tourists. Scenic spots such as Halong Bay in Vietnam or the Royal seaside town of Hua hin in Thailand have lost in recent years due to the growing number of visitors to the attractiveness. Rice fields have been concreted over. Hotels, shops and Restaurants shoot up from the ground. Tourist boats pollute the air. Coral reefs are broken, trampled. On the Indonesian holiday island of Bali, only the environmental pollution grows, the fresh water is now scarce. The resorts consume, meanwhile, now account for approximately 65 percent of the island’s available water. Here, too, the increasingly rising number of visitors from China will be viewed with concern. In just the past two years, the number of Chinese tourists grew by 986.000 to 1.4 million. When are reached the limits of growth? It is still what the tourist boards say. The conservationists call: stop.
Unclear Cash Flows
In addition, The money is often not always there where it is needed. Many Chinese discover only slowly, the Individual tourism. Especially the Older book to be All-Inclusive, package tours of Chinese suppliers, during which they carted away in busloads from sight to sight and from business to business. The shops are often themselves directly or indirectly in the Chinese Hand. Much of the revenue flows over the Chinese payment apps, such as “Alipay” no currency conversion, directly on the accounts to China. In the case of the Local people, such visitors are also referred to as “Zero-Dollar tourists”, because they bring you hardly anything.
The Chinese government plans to take the domestic travel providers in the future, more responsibility. For Beijing, the tourism Boom is also an important political trump card. This was evident, for example, Beijing could force this year, despite protests from Washington, two great American Airlines, “to emphasize Taiwan” as an independent country of their websites. Also in South Korea, Beijing put the lever in the tourism sector, after Seoul had allowed the Americans to build a missile defense system on their soil. The Beijing Ministry of tourism stopped then group travel to South Korea.
Because of the tension becoming less and less Chinese people traveling to the USA
Less travel in the US booked
The Bank of Korea estimates that the Chinese Boycott has cost the country in the last year of 0.4 percent of its economic growth. Also, in the current trade dispute with Donald Trump, it is conceivable that Beijing will use tourism as a weapon. 2016 accounted for Chinese tourists the third largest group of foreign visitors in the United States. In the process they also attacked an above-average rate deep in the pocket. Alone the U.S. retail Chinese tourists in 2016, have brought nearly 35 billion US dollars. But not only the retail, the hospitality industry and the air travel would be affected by your Absence. Since Trump broke the trade dispute in the spring of the fence, are traveling to the USA is already in decline. The “Golden Week” was recorded by the flight provider, 42 percent less bookings in the USA than in the previous year to the start of the holidays. The Patriotism and bad press seem to have had an effect.
Also in the affair of the rejected tourist in Stockholm, the Chinese government intervened two weeks after the incident. Swedish police have endangered the lives of Chinese citizens “seriously” and whose rights had been violated, said the Chinese Embassy in Stockholm. Whether or not the in the same breath, pronounced a travel warning, which could possibly also have to do with a Sweden-visit of the Dalai Lama in mid-September, really affects the tourism of the Scandinavian country, the Figures show, when the “Golden Week” is over.
Our columnist Frank Sieren has lived for more than 20 years in Beijing.