The smart way to travel

Mobile Internet and apps have helped to fuel China’s outbound tourism boom, report Li Jing and Yang Feiyue.

Many Chinese tourists travel abroad for holidays. The development in mobile Internet has contributed to the boom in outbound tourism.

For an adventurous traveler like Chen Yu, deciding where to go on holiday used to involve hours of scouring guidebooks for tips on attractions, decent hotels and how to get around in a foreign land.

"Now all I need is my smartphone," said the 35-year-old from Beijing.

The rapid advance in technology in recent years means even cheap mobile phones are effectively palm-top computers, giving users instant access to real-time information on almost any topic.

Avid travelers are among the biggest beneficiaries of this technological revolution — they can now book flights and hotels in an instant, use digital wallets to buy souvenirs, post reviews on the fly, and download apps that offer detailed maps and guides of far-flung places, all in their native language.

The development in mobile Internet has undoubtedly contributed to the boom in China’s outbound tourism, which led to the country becoming the world’s biggest source of tourists in 2012.

According to official data, Chinese tourists were expected to make 120 million trips abroad in 2015. That would be an increase of 16 percent year-on-year.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch has estimated the number could reach 174 million by 2019, with tourist spending increasing to $264 billion.

"Technological advances have been the key, as the Internet has reduced travel costs and made exotic destinations more viable (for Chinese tourists)," said Zhu Zhengyu, an analyst at Analysys International. "It has also led to more Chinese traveling independently rather than in groups." And it’s not just tourists who have benefited; travel agencies have also been able to reduce costs, while tech firms have latched on to the opportunities created by a fast-growing market.

"The Internet has allowed travel agencies to close brick-and-mortar offices, cut out the intermediary and gain easier access to target customers," Zhu said. "Since 2014 many companies have also launched smartphone apps aimed at Chinese travelers, providing services like car rental and restaurant reviews, which removes the language barrier and facilitates independent travel."