Lunar New Year travel to Europe made a 180-degree turn from last year, with travel spending and visits down in key Chinese tourist destinations. This according to Global Blue, perhaps the biggest player in European tax refund, which has monitored Lunar New Year spending in Europe in recent years. In 2017, Global Blue recorded a … More Europe Takes a Beating in Lunar New Year Travel and Shopping
It has been a long time coming, and now it finally happened: the United States is imposing tariffs on as much as $60 billion worth of Chinese goods, and China swiftly retaliated with a proposal to impose tariffs on $3 billion worth of U.S. goods. While it still remains unclear where this will eventually take … More Sino-U.S. Trade War: What the Travel Industry Needs to Know
International travellers paid a record-breaking 8.3 million visits to Finland in 2017 and spent nearly €500 million more than the year before. Chinese visitors were the most extravagant, spending more than €1200 per visit. In all, international visitors brought in €4 billion in revenue comparable to export. A survey conducted by Business Finland’s Visit Finland … More Spending by international visitors in Finland increased by 20% in 2017
With President’s Trump decision to defy opposition from his own party and proceed with stiff tariffs on imported steel and aluminum in the name of protecting U.S. industry and national security, the question of a trade war is once again relevant. In response to the new tariffs, China announced that it’ll take “effective measures to … More Why Chinese Tourism to the United States is Safe from a Trade War
China is the largest outbound tourism market in the world. The cooperation between Helsinki and Tencent gives the Finnish capital a groundbreaking channel straight into the mobile devices of WeChat users. Helsinki has set itself the goal of being the most digitalised city in the world, and the cooperation with Tencent ensures that the city … More Helsinki Reaches out to Millions of Chinese Travellers with new Helsinki Mini Program
After a series of unfortunate terrorist attacks back in 2015 which caused Chinese tourist arrivals in France to drop, France is making a comeback in the Chinese tourism market with a strong showing in 2017. However, returning to pre-2015 arrival numbers is not enough for France, which hopes to solidify its position as the world’s … More France Doubles Down on China as Tourism Recovers
Star Alliance has developed and implemented a digital services platform (DSP) in partnership with professional services company Accenture that allows customers to access a range of member airlines’ services through each other’s apps. The DSP can gather data provided by individual member airlines or third party sources and make it available to all other members, … More Star Alliance creates digital services platform with Accenture
According to Alibaba’s corporate news service, Alizila, Finland has become the first destination in the world to offer Chinese tourists an “all-Alipay” travel experience. Finland, perhaps one of the most aggressive destinations in the world in terms of rolling out Chinese-focused travel technology, is now said to have reached a level of adoption that allows … More Finland Becomes First “All-Alipay” Destination in the World – Alipay sends eight Chinese tourists on a cashless experiment in Finland
Things are about to get easier for Chinese travelers looking to enjoy tax refund services in Singapore. One of the main tax refund companies operating in the country is rolling out instant tax refund services processed through Alipay in a move that is likely to make tax refund easier than ever for Chinese tourists visiting … More Global Tax Free Rolls Out Instant Tax Refund Through Alipay in Singapore
There’s only so much a single business can do to attract more Chinese travelers to its hotels, shops, tourist attractions, or tour services. At a certain point, it doesn’t matter what a business does next: Chinese customers will be limited at a macro level, whether it’s because of a limited number of flights from China, … More What Governments Should Do to Attract More Chinese Travelers
News, opinions and blogs 