With growing demand for luxury experiences and rising confidence in exploring Africa beyond traditional destinations, China is presenting golden opportunities for operators that can effectively target the unique preferences of the world’s largest outbound travel market.

Research by digital marketing firm Dragon Trail International found that 57% of 495 surveyed Chinese travel agencies expect the country’s outbound market to finally make a full recovery to the pre-pandemic figure of just under 155 million trips in 2025.

Evolving preferences

In a webinar presented to operators and suppliers on March 25, ATTA’s official China representative and MD of Travel World China, Lin Yu, said the market experienced a period of significant evolution post-COVID.

“Preferences have shifted from just sightseeing to immersive and meaningful experiences and there is growing demand for luxury travel and personalised services along with sustainable tourism. We’ve also seen independent, family and small group travel featuring more strongly alongside the traditional large group travel,” said Yu.

There is rising confidence in not only exploring well-known destinations such as South Africa, Kenya and Tanzania but also countries such as Zimbabwe, Uganda and Rwanda, Yu added.

“We recently arranged a fam trip to Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park with representatives of 70 travel agencies, which was very well received. The broader region is benefitting from a growing trend for multi-country itineraries.”

Yu stressed that South Africa remains a top African destination for Chinese tourists, particularly with the advent of the country’s Trusted Tour Operator Scheme (TTOS). Launched in January, the TTOS enables vetted tour operators to process group applications from China and India more efficiently. The initiative is expected to grow arrivals from both of the Asian powerhouses by at least 30% in 2025.

Awareness of East Africa’s safari offerings has grown exponentially, Yu added. “I feel the market acceptance for East Africa is probably at the peak compared with any time before. Tanzania and Kenya have done especially well in marketing to China and the cumulative efforts are resulting in very good booking momentum.”

Targeted marketing

While in-person attendance at Chinese travel trade shows is a key marketing strategy, this needs to be complemented by an intensive focus on digital marketing, Yu emphasised. “Today’s Chinese travellers are very digital. They plan trips, find inspirations and even book experiences through social platforms like WeChat, Red Note and Baidu.”

She suggested the China Outbound Travel & Tourism Market – from April 24-26 – and ITB China (scheduled for May 27-29) are the two key trade shows to promote African businesses to buyers.

“That said, our travel fairs are still not as large or as engaging as other international exhibitions and arranging pre-scheduled meetings can be a challenge. So, while they are great for creating visibility, trade shows are unlikely to deliver results unless you have a clear follow-up strategy in place,” said Yu.

She suggested this strategy includes direct engagement with key decision-makers through multi-day sales visits alongside a continuous digital marketing drive.

Constraints

Dragon Trail’s research found that travel costs are seen as one of the biggest obstacles to outbound travel from China with 45% of agents stating this will have a negative impact in 2025.

Yu said, with travel still mostly concentrated in periods such as the Chinese New Year (at varying dates during January, February or March) and the mid-year summer holidays, expensive flight and accommodation costs are a major constraint.

“This translates into a package price for long-haul travel that is often too high for all but the higher middle and wealthy segments of the market. We’re hoping that not only the costs of international flights but also the regional intra-African flights – for those multi-country packages – can be stabilised.”

When choosing hotel partners to work with, 71% of travel agencies said Chinese-language services are either a consideration or a decisive factor, Dragon Trail’s research additionally highlighted.

There is still room for Chinese travel agencies to improve their understanding of Africa as a destination, particularly in terms of cultural differences, Yu added.

“The situation has improved dramatically but there is still a lot of education that needs to be done to explain the very different cultural practices that Chinese travellers will experience,” she said.