With Chinese New Year fast approaching, the latest data from Expedia Group, the world’s travel platform, reveals how interest in ‘Destination UK’ continues to surge from Asia visitors.
Chinese New Year begins on Saturday 25 January this year, with 2020 being the Year of the Rat. Public holidays can last from a few days to many weeks depending on the country and it’s the longest holiday in the Chinese calendar. The UK is traditionally a popular destination for international visitors with London’s Chinese New Year celebrations in 2019 attracting 483,000 visitors from China alone and it’s set to be even bigger this year.
New analysis of Expedia Group data covering Q1-Q3 2019* (January-September) shows incredible growth in trips to the UK, driven by Asia visitor markets, including a 155% year-on-year (YoY) increase in travellers from mainland China coming to the UK across the period.
Last year’s stunning growth follows a triple-digit increase in 2018, when visitors from China grew by about 160% (YoY). Research from Visit Britain shows that travellers from China spend 2.8 times the global average when in the UK and almost two-thirds of visitor nights (62%) are spent outside of London.
This strong performance in 2019 was bolstered further by increased visitors from Japan and South Korea (both +30% YoY), Hong Kong (+25% YoY), and significant double-digit growth from markets including Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan and Singapore.
Package demand from China (a combination of hotel, and/or flight and/or car hire) has also grown strongly (+260% YoY), and visitors via mobile devices increased substantially YoY.
Commenting on the data, Director, Market Management, London, Expedia Group, Helen Maher, said: “The Chinese New Year holiday period is traditionally one that attracts a lot of visitors from Asia, and our data shows ongoing, substantial interest from travellers coming to the UK from a number of Asian markets.
“Package demand, those that include flights and hotels, is growing even faster in these markets, once again demonstrating that Expedia Group continues to drive increased demand for our hotel partners from valuable travellers in key international markets.”
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