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Tourist destinations worldwide are seeing a boom in Chinese tourists, and Singapore is no exception.

Data from the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) shows that visitors from China spent an estimated $3.52 billion here last year, a 39 per cent or nearly $1 billion increase from 2015.

This was the second year in a row that China has emerged as Singapore's top-spending market, beating out Indonesia, which has traditionally been the top spender. There were 2.86 million Chinese visitors last year, up 36 per cent from 2015.

Going by the results of a survey of over 3,000 Chinese travellers by online travel booking site Hotels.com released yesterday, the tide of Chinese tourists will not be ebbing soon. It found that Singapore is the top city in the Asia-Pacific that Chinese travellers want to visit in the next 12 months. This was followed by Sydney, while third place was shared by Tokyo, Hong Kong, Bangkok and Australia's Gold Coast.

Hotels.com commissioned Ipsos to carry out the survey in April and May this year of people aged 18 to 57 who had travelled overseas in the past 12 months.

The survey found that when choosing a holiday destination, safety was paramount to Chinese travellers. They also tended to prioritise destinations with historical and heritage value, and those that offer activities on their bucket list.

Singapore ticks all the right boxes as it has a reputation as a safe city and boasts a colourful heritage and "a kaleidoscope of cultures", said Hotels.com.

122m
Number of outbound Chinese tourists last year, up 74 per cent from 2011.

2.86m
Number of Chinese visitors who came to Singapore last year, up 36 per cent from 2015.

"Taking a selfie at the infinity pool of Marina Bay Sands is likely to be part of Chinese travellers' bucket list," it added. They also liked that many Singaporeans can speak Mandarin and there was easy access to Chinese food.

According to STB data, the growth in Chinese tourists has been fuelled by a rise in tourists from secondary cities in China.

The survey report also highlighted the enormous potential for growth in the number of Chinese travellers and their spending power.

Other findings

* About one-third of Chinese travellers will not leave home without their selfie stick.

* Chinese travellers spent an average of US$3,623 (S$4,950) on travel in the last 12 months - over a quarter of their income. The top three areas they spent the most on daily when travelling were dining, sightseeing, and rest and relaxation.

* Older Chinese travellers are travelling farther and opting for more adventurous travel, such as backpacking.
Melissa Lin

Last year, there were 122 million outbound Chinese tourists - a staggering 74 per cent more than in 2011 - but just 10 per cent of the Chinese population had passports.

And those with passports are travelling for longer periods and spending more. The average length of their trips increased in the past year from five days to seven days, while their average spending - inclusive of accommodation - rose from US$414 (S$565) to US$446.

Despite many key indicators providing signs of a slowdown in the Chinese economy, the report found that spending on travel increased across all age brackets.

In the next 12 months, the Chinese travellers surveyed said they intend to spend an average 10 per cent more on travel.

Interestingly, shopping is no longer the main attraction for them. Instead, they value leisure, experiences, and exploring local culture and heritage. Spending on eco and green tours, for instance, has risen 12 per cent over the past year.

Senior lecturer in tourism at Ngee Ann Polytechnic Michael Chiam noted that in place of shopping, Chinese tourists to Singapore are spending on food and beverage instead.

He added that Singapore could do more to highlight its local lifestyle, heritage and culture. "The free and independent Chinese tourists are a little more adventurous," he said. "They like to explore nooks and corners of Singapore which are outside the usual tourist belt to experience local lifestyles, such as venturing into Geylang for durians."

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Visitors from China top spenders in Singapore for second year running

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Tourist destinations worldwide are seeing a boom in Chinese tourists, and Singapore is no exception. Data from the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) shows that visitors from China spent an estimated $3.52 billion here last year, a 39 per cent or nearly $1 billion increase from 2015.

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BEIJING (AFP, REUTERS) - The United States will bar Americans from travelling to North Korea in the coming weeks, two travel agencies said on Friday (July 21), a month after a US tourist, student Otto Warmbier, died following his imprisonment by Pyongyang.

China-based Young Pioneer Tours, which had taken Warmbier to North Korea, and Koryo Tours said the ban will come into force on July 27 - the anniversary of the end of the Korean War - with a 30-day grace period.

"We have just been informed that the US government will no longer be allowing US citizens to travel to the DPRK (North Korea)," Young Pioneer Tours said on its website.

"After the 30-day grace period any US national that travels to North Korea will have their passport invalidated by their government," it said.

The company did not say who had notified it of the ban, which followed its earlier announcement that it would no longer take Americans to North Korea in the wake of Warmbier's death last month.

A US official, who did not want to be identified, confirmed that the US planned to announce a ban and said the State Department would provide details. The department had no immediate comment.

Koryo Tours general manager Simon Cockerell told AFP that his company was notified by the Swedish embassy in Pyongyang, which usually acts on behalf of the United States in North Korea since Washington has no diplomatic ties with the isolated regime.

The official announcement "will basically end American tourism" in North Korea, Cockerell said.

Travellers wanting to visit the North must go with a tour company. Americans are required to fly to Pyongyang from Beijing, while other nationalities are allowed to go by train. But the US State Department has strongly warned Americans against travelling there.

Warmbier, 22, died after being medically evacuated to the United States suffering from severe brain damage. He had spent 18 months in captivity in North Korea.

US President Donald Trump blamed Pyongyang's "brutal regime" for his plight.

North Korea accused the US of waging a "smear campaign" and denied that Warmbier was tortured or abused.

The University of Virginia student was arrested at the airport as he was leaving Pyongyang in January last year and sentenced at a show trial to 15 years of hard labour for stealing a political poster from a hotel.

His case added to already high tensions in the region over North Korea's weapons ambitions, culminating in the country's successful test launch earlier this month of an intercontinental ballistic missile that experts say could reach Alaska.

Young Pioneer Tours, founded in 2008 by a British expat, came under fire after Warmbier was flown home in a coma following a flurry of secret diplomatic negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang.

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US bans travel to North Korea after student Otto Warmbier's death

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BEIJING (AFP) - The United States will bar Americans from travelling to North Korea in the coming weeks, two travel agencies said on Friday (July 21), a month after a US tourist, student Otto Warmbier, died following his imprisonment by Pyongyang.. Read more at straitstimes.com.

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Guys I need y'all to like try to help read the articles, then type out what you can pick out from the article. Pick out as in those stuff related to what we have covered in MIEC.

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Guys I need y'all to like try to help read the articles, then type out what you can pick out from the article. Pick out as in those stuff related to what we have covered in MIEC.

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For e.g, if there is a source on demand/supply, then u can type out what happened  to the demand/supply on that product (in this case its air tickets/tour packages etc.)
Rmb to indicate you name so cher can know who typed that stuff!!!

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Hey guys! Just in case u lost or cannot find ur file, u can open this here to view the Project brief guide.

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MIEC Group Project brief (April 2017 Semester)

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Articles to look out for:
- Demand, Supply & Market Equillibrium
- Market Structure
- Fallacies

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para 2 and 4 - mostly about tourism demand increasing in the future

para 3 - employment numbers/percentage

para 5 - concern about rising tourism demand

brief explanation of events
- increasing tourism and travel demand in china especially during holidays resulting in an increase in economy
- HOWEVER there are concerns of low quality services due to a great influx of tourists

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China to Become Second Largest Tourism Economy within the Decade | Worldwatch Institute

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As China's tourism industry flourishes, the country is poised to become the world's second largest travel and tourism economy after the United States by 2015, according to a new report from the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC).

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(Ryan) Article on Misa Travel's sudden closure

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(Ryan) Article on Misa Travel's sudden closure

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(Damien) There is a fallacy of composition as seen in ". The travel agency, which primarily dealt with flight, hotel and cruise bookings, started getting involved in tour packages, corporate travel, and meetings, conferences and exhibitions travel." &
"It tried to do more things, and so needed to hire more people, and the costs kept escalating."
Exp: This shows that Misa Travel kept on trying to source out new ways to do things so as to earn profit. However, instead they got back to square 1 when

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The sudden closure of Misa Travel, once seen as a role model for its push into the online space, has shocked the travel industry.

It has raised questions about whether the firm tried to find new sources of revenue in the face of competition from global players, and expanded too fast.

The 23-year-old Misa Travel put up the shutters on Wednesday, a day after the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) revoked its travel agent licence for failing to "fulfil its obligations towards its customers" - leaving several clients in the lurch.

The Consumers Association of Singapore (Case) said it has received at least 17 complaints since the agency closed, with customers saying they were out of pocket by $18,000 for unfulfilled packages.

Neighbours of Misa Travel's office at Hong Lim Complex told The Straits Times that nothing had seemed amiss up until its closure.

Set up in 1994 by Mr Kenny Chew, Misa Travel's core business was in online travel ticketing services, through portals such as airfares. com.sg and cruises.com.sg. It was held up as a model for traditional agencies looking to migrate online.

In 2014, Mr Chew sold the business to private equity firm Zana Capital, which, along with Misa Travel, could not be reached yesterday.

The demise of yet another established travel agency follows the closures of coach company Five Stars Tours in 2014 and Asia-Euro Holidays in 2015.

An industry player told ST that after the takeover, Misa Travel's new management had tried to expand its portfolio. The travel agency, which primarily dealt with flight, hotel and cruise bookings, started getting involved in tour packages, corporate travel, and meetings, conferences and exhibitions travel.

"It tried to do more things, and so needed to hire more people, and the costs kept escalating," said the source.

There were other hints that not all was well. Last year, it had applied successfully for an STB fund which encourages tourism businesses to use technology or immersive tours to enhance the visitor experience.

But STB later terminated the agreement "as Misa Travel did not meet the agreed project timelines", said STB's director of travel agents and tourist guides Ong Ling Lee. No funding was provided to the company, she added.

Ngee Ann Polytechnic's senior tourism lecturer Michael Chiam noted that consumers can now buy tickets not only from online travel agents, but also from intermediaries such as Agoda and directly from airlines and hotels.

"It's a very competitive landscape. For a travel agent to survive, you have to be able to add value, such as organising tours using your expert knowledge of a particular location," he said. "But if you just offer run-of-the-mill services like booking tickets, you can't survive."

Case executive director Loy York Jiun advised affected consumers who had bought travel insurance to contact their insurance company immediately. Those who used their credit cards can contact their card-issuing bank.

A customer, Mr Lee Kim Hon, said Misa Travel has not replied to queries about his $3,000 purchase of 15 tickets to Hong Kong next week. The airline informed him his tickets have been voided. "Thankfully, I bought travel insurance," added the 38-year-old manager.

In the first five months of the year, Case received 195 complaints involving the travel industry.
*Additional reporting by Revathi Valluvar

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Travel industry shocked by Misa Travel's sudden closure

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The sudden closure of Misa Travel, once seen as a role model for its push into the online space, has shocked the travel industry. It has raised questions about whether the firm tried to find new sources of revenue in the face of competition from global players, and expanded too fast.

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(Damien)

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NEW YORK (AFP) - American tourism companies are seeing early signs that US President Donald Trump's still-young administration is hitting foreign visits and fear "destination USA" could suffer further in the years to come.

Travel industry executives, in particular, expressed anguish over Mr Trump's proposed travel ban on visitors from seven predominately Muslim countries, an issue the US President raised anew this week in the wake of the London attacks.

"When you hear words like 'travel ban', it puts a big chill" on business, Mr James Murren, chief executive of MGM Resorts, said on Tuesday (June 6) during a panel discussion at a travel industry conference hosted by New York University.

Industry insiders also see Mr Trump's tough "America first" talk as hostile to potential visitors.

"We need to address the Trump administration and its policies," said Mr Roger Dow, president of the US Travel Association, in a news conference. "Many might be saying, 'I'm wondering if the US even welcomes us any more."

Early figures suggest travel to the United States from all international markets is running about flat in 2017 compared with the year-ago period, said Marriott chief executive Arne Sorenson, adding that outcome is "not bad" considering the strong US dollar.

But the data also suggests declines of about 20 per cent in visitors from the Middle East and Mexico, which Mr Trump has harshly criticised.

Mr Sorenson, a critic of the travel ban, fears the US market will suffer in the next three to five years even as global travel continues to grow.

"The US share will decline because we'll see more and more people go to Europe and other destinations where the reception seems to be warmer," Mr Sorenson said.

Mr Jonathan Tisch, chief executive of Loews Hotel & Co, said one of Loews' hotels in Miami has had groups cancel because they had attendees from a travel ban country.

Mr Tisch also said Emirates airline has cut flights to some US cities and warned that the US risked another "lost decade" of foreign visitors much as a visa crackdown and other policies after 9/11 led to the loss of billions of dollars in revenues from overseas travellers.

Internationally known US tourist destinations include an array of spectacular national parks in the western part of the United States, amusement parks such as Disney World in Orlando, and major cities like New York and Los Angeles, which are embedded in global popular culture from Hollywood movies and television.

International leisure travellers comprised 19.5 per cent of the nearly US$1 trillion (S$1.4 trillion) US travel market in 2016, well below domestic leisure travellers, who accounted for 50 per cent of the total, according to a report by IBISWorld.

But growth is expected to be faster among international travellers in the years to come, in line with rising global income, particularly in countries in Asia and South America.

IBISWorld projected that the number of domestic trips taken by Americans is expected to grow at an annualised rate of 2.3 per cent through 2021, half the rate of inbound international visitors over the same period.

"We're experiencing a global tourism boom," MGM's Mr Murren told Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency in an interview. "Over the next 20-25 years, tourism across borders is going to increase and the US should be a leader there."

"The goals of having a stronger border and greater safety and that goal of driving international tourism are not excluding goals," Mr Murren added. "They should work hand in hand."

Tourism industry executives cautioned that there are other drags on foreign travel besides Mr Trump, especially the strong dollar.

Mr Steve Haggerty, a global head of capital strategy, franchising and select service at Hyatt, said the industry mood was cautious, but he attributed that to anxiety about the economic cycle rather than politics.

"There's an underlying reservation about the duration of this cycle, knowing this is a cyclical business," he told AFP. Nobody knows what will change the cycle "and if the drop will be gradual or dramatic".

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US travel industry leery of Trump effect, some markets showing hit

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Companies & Markets News -NEW YORK (AFP) - American tourism companies are seeing early signs that US President Donald Trump's still-young administration is hitting foreign visits and fear "destination USA" could suffer further in the years to come.. Read more at straitstimes.com.