US, Japan high on Chinese tourists’ list

Japan and the United States are set to become the top overseas destinations among Chinese white-collar tourists in 2015 due to relaxed visa policies and the cheap yen, Travelzoo said yesterday in Shanghai.

The travel deal publisher said that independent travel and trips with family members such as children and aged parents will be trendy among Chinese tourists in 2015, according to its annual survey covering 5,000 people in major Chinese cities including Shanghai and Beijing.

"It's a golden year of cross-border tourism in 2015 thanks to relaxed visa policies and higher spending budgets of Chinese white-collar travellers," said Hong Wei, Travelzoo China's president.

The top overseas destinations for Chinese white-collar travellers this year will include Japan (39 percent), the US (31.4 percent), New Zealand (26.8 percent), Australia (25.6 percent) and Taiwan (24.9 percent), according to the survey.

Some countries including the US, Canada, Japan and the UK have relaxed visa policies for Chinese passport holders such as allowing multiple-entry visas or simplifying the application process.

Chinese travellers are also likely to lose interest in some destinations in 2015 compared with a year ago, including Malaysia and Hong Kong, said Travelzoo which has 2 million subscribers in China, with half of them having a family income of over 300,000 yuan (US$42,288) annually.