Written by InsightXplorer and GMO Research

February is a lively and festive time to be in Asia as many countries and territories with significant Chinese populations celebrate the Lunar New Year. This also means many people travel to neighboring countries for the holidays. GMO Research and InsightXplorer conducted a research study in China and Taiwan on travel during the holiday season.

Research results found that over 60% of Internet users travelled during the break in both regions (66.4% of Taiwanese and 74.2% of Chinese Internet users). After cross analysis, those who travelled during this period were mainly those married with kids under 18 y.o, while those single or married without children mostly did not travel, indicating that people in different life stages spend their Lunar New Year break differently. There were also more Chinese that travelled overseas than Taiwanese (27% vs. 9%).

So where was the most popular tourist destination? Inquiring about overseas travel destinations, there was a high percentage of Taiwanese visiting Japan (66.7%) with HK/Macau/China (35.4%) and Korea (27.1%) trailing behind. For Chinese travelers, Korea (43.1%) was the top destination with Japan (41%) and Singapore (32.6%) coming in 2nd and 3rd place. This shows that for both Taiwanese and Chinese, the destinations were mostly in Asia, which is likely due to the length of the break and costs. Many traveled to multiple destinations in Asia.

Wherever the Chinese travelers went, they spent an ample amount of money, especially on shopping. Chinese spent an average of $5,830 on vacation, which was twice the amount that Taiwanese spent. The expenditure was different for users from the two regions as well with the top 2 categories Taiwanese spending on being “transportation” (29% of total spending) and “shopping” (24.2%) and “shopping” (35.6%) and “transportation” (21.8%) for Chinese users.

Survey results proved that this was again a festive time of year in Asia. More than 60% of those polled traveled. This has a massive economic impact not only in the countries that celebrate Chinese New Year but also the neighboring countries. Japan for the first time in history surpassed 10 million visitors in 2013 with 50% coming from China, Taiwan, and Korea. This is apparent in tourist locations like Ginza where signs in Chinese and stores that accept the Chinese debit card Union Pay stand out. As more people go travel during this time, it is imperative that tourism organizations in each country attract visitors.

Survey Details
Country: Taiwan, China
Samples: 500 per country
Fieldwork Period: 2/10-2/15

For more information contact:
gr-pd@gmo-research.jp (GMO Research)
marcom@ixresearch.com (InsightXplorer)