BEIJING, 23 January, 2013 – Wego, the leading travel metasearch site in the Asia Pacific and Middle East revealed that Chinese travellers are discovering many new destinations and staying in higher star rating rooms.
Predictions of a younger, tech-savvy demographic booking more independent and diverse travel are being fulfilled. In 2012, mainland Chinese travellers searched well over 3,500 destinations online with Wego, almost 1,500 more than in 2011. For Chinese New Year the number has risen even further. The increase is not attributed to domestic destinations, but rather, eight in every ten searches on Wego China (www.wego.cn) are now international.
An estimated 25 million first-time travellers are crossing China’s borders every year, according to Essential China Travel Trends 2012, and the evolution of the Chinese explorer is continuing.
“Many more Chinese are freeing themselves of group travel restrictions and want to experience the real culture of the countries they visit. They are looking to experiment with new destinations and brands while enjoying ultimate control,”
explained Dean Wicks, Chief Marketing Officer for the travel comparison site.
A quarter seeks value for money in the 5-star luxury category. A further 29 percent pursue options in the 4-star range, selecting branded and boutique bargains at similar rates to hotels known to accommodate groups. Only one in five are found in budget accommodation.
In common with travellers in other regions, the Chinese now search categories over and above their budget for hotel deals to reveal affordable luxury bargains – the key to unlocking savings being a wider choice of competing suppliers on the internet.
Similarly, these travellers fly 230 more airlines than a year ago, discovering cheap alternatives online.
“They are more willing to book foreign carriers. Beyond familiar brands such as China Southern, Cathay Pacific and Dragonair, they’ll try AirAsia or newcomer Scoot,”
Wicks added.
As a result, the lure of the new now rivals the appeal of traditional destinations. Expanded route networks have made South East Asia’s free and easy hotspots, Australia’s outdoors, Europe’s cultural capitals and the exotic United Arab Emirates ever more accessible, and these new choices are steadily attracting more and more Chinese travellers.
Only when it comes to the actual booking does familiarity count. Three-quarters of wego.cn users continue to use mainstream online travel agents like C-Trip and Elong to complete their reservation, the remainder transacting directly with airline and hotel sites.
The horizon is wide for the new China demographic. The total number of destinations explored by the many millions of users of Wego sites around the world is well over 15,000. Mainland travellers are on their way to discovering them all.
Top 10 International Searches on Wego China for this Lunar New Year
- Singapore
- Phuket
- Bangkok
- Kuala Lumpur
- Bali
- Chiang Mai
- Manila
- Boracay
- Koh Samui
- Kota Kinabalu
Wego compares flights, hotels, deals and holiday rentals from over 700 travel sites instantly to produce comprehensive search results, saving its users time and money online. For more information, click www.wego.cn/about.
For more information, contact:
Caroline Bye
Wego Pte Limited
Email: [email protected]
Tel: +65 6692 0868
About Wego
Wego.com is the Asia/Pacific, Middle East and North Africa’s leading travel metasearch engine, operating in over 50 markets worldwide and used by millions of travellers to save time, pay less and travel more. The company provides powerful yet simple to use tools that help travellers research trips, compare prices and book travel online. Wego shows users an unbiased and channel neutral view of travel prices, providing users with a choice of booking direct with a hotel or airline, or via an OTA or aggregator site. In Q3-2012 Wego referred in excess of $1.2 Billion of potential bookings to the websites of its travel partners. Wego.com was founded in 2005 by former executives of Yahoo!, InterContinental Hotels Group, Priceline and ZUJI. Shareholders include Tiger Global Management, News Digital Media and OWW Capital Partners. For more information, please visit https://www.wego.com/about