This week is Chinese New Year, so what better time to read about the growth of Chinese tourism in Southeastern Europe? Dragon Trail has an interesting article titled “The Southeastern Europe Chinese Tourism Boom”, by Sienna Parulis-Cook. It looks at recent trends in travel from the Middle Kingdom to this part of the world, and the states of the former Yugoslavia in particular.
"My Green Travel" -Slovenia has a Chinese website
It notes that the region has seen some of the world’s highest growth rates for Chinese tourism in recent years, with Montenegro more than doubling its tourism numbers in the first nine months of 2019, while in the first half of the year Slovenia saw 46,032 arrivals and 71,571 overnight stays by Chinese tourists, up by 22.5% and 37.6%, respectively. To put those numbers in context, the entire Chinese outbound tourism market grew by just 12% in 2019.
Two of the most viewed Chinese language videos on Slovenia on YouTube
Why such growth? One reason is the ease of visa-free entry in Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, and the fact that both Croatia and Montenegro allow entry to anyone holding a Schengen visa, while Slovenia is already within the free movement zone. Another is the growing business connections between the region and China, most notably via the Belt & Road Initiative to link Eurasia and Africa, with Southeastern Europe being a key route to Northern Europe.
A third is the growing sophistication of Chinese travellers. While those coming to Slovenia are likely still travelling in groups, they’ve probably already been to the AAA must-see sights and cities in Europe – with Paris now receiving some one million Chinese tourists a year. Lesser known destination are thus the new frontier, and with such travellers are said to be less interested in shopping for top brands in luxury stores than in having experiences in terms of culture and outdoors. And as Ana Špik, who works for the Slovenian Tourist Board, notes, Slovenia is increasingly popular for Chinese pre- and post-wedding photography, so it’s also attracting more couples.
The whole article contains a lot more of interest, on Slovenia and the wider region, and can be read here.
