Hotels preparing for influx of Chinese visitors
Looking ahead: The hotel sector is accelerating its China Ready plans in anticipation of an increase in Chinese visitors to Australia. Photo: Jeremy Piper
The hotel sector is bracing for an inflow of Chinese tourists in coming years with all major operators accelerating their China Ready plans.
According to an extensive survey by the Intercontinental Hotel Group, by 2023 more than 75 per cent of the forecast one million arrivals from China to Australia will be leisure travellers.
The report, titled the Future of China Travel, was commissioned by the Intercontinental Hotel Group in partnership with Oxford Economics and looks at historical and current trends in Chinese outbound travel, and how economic and demographic developments will shape demand for Chinese travel over the next decade.
Karin Sheppard, chief operating officer for Australasia, Japan & Korea, said China is one of Australia's most valuable inbound markets and every year.
"Today 50 per cent of our hotels here are China Ready accredited and we will grow this number alongside the growth that we can expect from Chinese guests," she said.
"Holiday trips proved to be the most popular purpose of travel for Chinese visitors to Australia, generating the highest average pernight spend ($449 nightly) compared to other travel purposes. Sydney and Melbourne are named amongst cities with the highest lengths of stay compared to other long-haul city destinations in the Asia-Pacific region."
Ms Sheppard said the change in culture among Chinese, such as an increase in the number of international sports stars who have large entourages and students coming to Australia, has also led to an increase in demand for hotel rooms.
The report noted that by 2023, it is projected that Chinese arrivals in Australian cities will increase dramatically: 109 per cent increase in Melbourne; 98 per cent increase in Sydney; 90 per cent increase in Brisbane and 86 per cent increase in the Gold Coast.
Ms Sheppard said that to cope with the demand, IHG has instigated its own "China Ready" program for 80 of its hotels in 24 countries to have Mandarin-speaking staff, trained Chinese chefs and "provide cultural awareness training to their people".
The report comes as the government released its National Visitor Survey for the year ending December 2014, which saw a new high in domestic overnight trips increasing 7 per cent to reach 81.4 million.
Domestic visitor nights increased 9 per cent to 309 million, and domestic overnight spend recorded 6 per cent growth to reach a record high of $54.4 billion.
Bob East, the chief executive of Mantra Group, said the National Visitor Survey results concur with the group's experience in the market.
"Major event (sporting and cultural) are increasingly becoming a major incentive for people to travel and stay in both regional and CBD locations, while the healthy domestic increases is further fuelled by the increasing inbound business particularly out of Asia," Mr East said.
"The future booking for major leisure hubs and CBD's suggest these trends are continuing. Australians are booking their accommodation earlier (Mantra Group has seen an increase in lead time of 5 per cent) as people are seeking to secure their bookings before peak periods become full."
Source: Sydney Morning Herald - 13th March 2015
