They have limited means, but their numbers are many and growing. The talk is of young people from China travelling the globe. That is reason enough for the World Youth Student and Educational Travel Confederation (WYSE) to compile travel statistics on an emerging tourism market.
In many respects they are barely different to any other young tourists, earning little in the way of money. On Thursday at ITB Berlin, Greg Richards, Professor of Leisure Studies at Tilburg University, explained that the vast majority of tourists from China aged under 25 made do with an annual income of less than 1,000 euros. Despite this, they spent an average of 3,750 euros on their trip. This was generally made possible by their family and parents, whom 35 per cent named as their source of income. 32 per cent said they spent their own income and 16 per cent said they earned money on their trip.
The figures quoted give little indication of social backgrounds, as the time they spend travelling and the relevant sums of money vary greatly. The average number of overnights is 17. However, among those journeying to Australia the figure exceeds 100, presumably because they earn money on their travels. 18 per cent of income is spent on transportation and 16 per cent on accommodation. Hostel owners do well to employ someone fluent in Chinese. One in four to five spend the night in hotels, hostels or apartments.