Why do so few foreigners choose China as a holiday destination?

[Wippen (inactive)]

Interesting photoseries explaining why fewer and fewer foreign tourists are choosing China as a holiday destination.

Warning: Some of the reasons may crack you up

 

http://news.ifeng.com/a/20171220/54332605_0.shtml#p=1

[anonymoose]

I think most of the reasons given are true. Of course there are other reasons - not being able to access the internet easily I think is one of them.

[Wippen (inactive)]

The article suggests Westerners cannot afford to go to China, as China is now doing so well prices have gone up, and  due to our financial crisis in the West we have less money, and are now having to go for cheap destinations like Thailand. These were the reasons that stood out 

[anonymoose]

As generalised statements, they are probably true. Of course, it doesn't apply to every individual.

[edelweis]

7 hours ago, Tøsen said:

fewer and fewer foreign tourists are choosing China as a holiday destination

Do we have actual figures about this?

I wasn't aware China was a popular holiday destination for foreigners at some point.

[Wippen (inactive)]

31 minutes ago, anonymoose said:

As generalised statements, they are probably true

If you are a European hit by the financial crisis you would probably not travel half across the globe to get a cheap deal in Thailand. Secondly, the people who actually go to China on holiday are probably a "special breed" and if the financial crisis has an effect on them, their alternatives probably would not be just another "cheap" country.  My surprise centrered around the fact that China could somehow be juxtaposed as tourist destination with places like Vietnam and Thailand. They have very different appeals. The article also appears to praise China as a really modern country, previously popular amongst tourists, where prices have shut up because it is doing so well. Along the lines of, poor Europeans that cannot afford it anymore!

 

29 minutes ago, edelweis said:

Do we have actual figures about this?

I am just quoting the headline of the article.

 

29 minutes ago, edelweis said:

I wasn't aware China was a popular holiday destination for foreigners at some point.

And that is another reason why the whole photo series is a bit weird.

[anonymoose]

6 minutes ago, Tøsen said:

If you are a European hit by the financial crisis you would probably not travel half across the globe to get a cheap deal in Thailand. Secondly, the people who actually go to China on holiday are probably a "special breed" and if the financial crisis has an effect on them, their alternatives probably would not just be another "cheap" country.

 

I don't entirely disagree with what you are saying, but on a population scale, it is a basic economic principle that when costs rise, demand goes down. Nothing controversial about that.

[889]

"I wasn't aware China was a popular holiday destination for foreigners at some point."

 

China was a very hot travel destination for Westerners from the adoption of thr open-door policies in the late '70s until the passing of certain historical events in the late '80s. The memory of those historical events still lingers in the West, if not in China, and foreign tourism never really recovered. As well, the '90s marked the beginning of wholesale urban redevelopment, which destroyed the charm of nearly every Chinese city.

 

Tibet remains the one big draw for Western tourists, but China has tied travel there in expensive red tape.

 

[Flickserve]

I guess the other thing is if so many Chinese tourists go out of China and give a negative impression, what charm is there to visit China? 

 

I won't go to China to gawk at high rise buildings or admire alipay cashless payments. 

[Brian US]

From personal experiences, I would group most of it as being "overwhelming" for most people. Throw whatever you want into that bucket from the language gap, crowds, restaurants, having to hitch a ride on a Belgian Tour Bus since you got lost hiking on the Great Wall...

 

I just deterred some family friends from going to Harbin for the Ice Festival since they wanted to explore something outside of Beijing. I didn't go into details, but with the cold, their age, and mainly logistics, it isn't worth it. This was just from knowing them personally since I love Harbin!

[DavyJonesLocker]

I wouldn't say the financial aspect is a major issues. Most of my UK friend have been to Japan Australia south east Asia but not one have been to China. 

I thinks it's easy to over think it but it  boils down to a combination of 

a) Lack of interest

b) Negative media attention

c) seen as an impenetrable country to visit

 

[dtcamero]

if i didn't speak chinese i wouldn't want to go to china.

 

china is a great place to live, but if you're on vacation for a week or two you want to see things, and as mentioned the cities are pretty ugly... and the service culture is atrocious, which i was happy to see mentioned in the article. as a tourist these service people are the majority of who you'll encounter, which is why everyone loves japan, by comparison.

its not that china is so expensive, but just that the value for the money is pretty low... japan and italy are more expensive, yet crawling with tourists (many of them chinese)..

 

chinese natural beauty is truly breathtaking at places like 黄山，九寨沟，武夷山 等等... but if you're a westerner you will not be used to what passes for a luxury hotel in a place like that. and good luck with breakfast... and god forbid you need you find a toilet while you're out all day. 

 

overall, if you're just a first-time tourist trying to do china on a budget you're going to have a pretty awful experience.

like this girl:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uX6ItrqsIw

[Hua]

就像我为什么不喜欢去美国旅游一样，除了那两个世纪前修的跨大陆铁路（连接几个城市），火车都不通。灰狗(So-called Grayhound) 坐得半死不活，在车上干坐数个小时。波士顿里一家有名气的餐馆服务员爱理不理。这类心理落差是由不同国家物质与文化生活的差异造成的，你在自己国家习惯了那种生活方式，在海外差异太大你会有失调感。上面那个老兄贴的视频里面那个女生说自己坐卧铺坐得有多可怜，其实这很好理解。英国（根据她的口音判断），铁路系统发达（虽然速度一般），火车价格贵（伟大的私有化！）但车内设施优质，用不着挤着。有这种体验的英国人到中国就算高铁速度有多快，床多了睡的人多了她一样不习惯。我在国内喜欢下馆子，品尝各地美食，之后我到了美国那才叫一个惨。美国人品尝能想到的美食首先是淋着粘稠芝士的披萨（恕我直言，芝士我真的吃不惯），他们还对不同热狗（两块面包夹火腿肠）之间的微妙差异十分考究，细致到温度、气味、味蕾感触、触发的记忆等等。我说拉倒吧，你们这些“美食家”比来比去不就是几家快餐店吗？但话说回来，虽然我对美国本土餐饮不敢恭维，但我理解他们的生活方式是受他们地方的环境条件限制的，快餐文化也不是美国人脑子发热不知道世界各地的山珍海味，而是在当初殖民地时期就开始根深蒂固的传统。西方（尤其是美国）部分人出去的还是太少了，对文化差异少有一种深刻的理解，但如果你能够理解，你就更能去体会以至去欣赏这种不同。所以说文化中心论到底还是大有市场。

[edelweis]

7 hours ago, 889 said:

China was a very hot travel destination for Westerners from the adoption of thr open-door policies in the late '70s until the passing of certain historical events in the late '80s.

Interesting, I had no idea.

But surely the actual number of tourists in recent years (or at least in 2008 - 2009) is much higher than then ?

[Tomsima]

3 hours ago, Hua said:

就像我为什么不喜欢去美国旅游一样，除了那两个世纪前修的跨大陆铁路（连接几个城市），火车都不通。灰狗(So-called Grayhound) 坐得半死不活，在车上干坐数个小时。波士顿里一家有名气的餐馆服务员爱理不理。这类心理落差是由不同国家物质与文化生活的差异造成的，你在自己国家习惯了那种生活方式，在海外差异太大你会有失调感。上面那个老兄贴的视频里面那个女生说自己坐卧铺坐得有多可怜，其实这很好理解。英国（根据她的口音判断），铁路系统发达（虽然速度一般），火车价格贵（伟大的私有化！）但车内设施优质，用不着挤着。有这种体验的英国人到中国就算高铁速度有多快，床多了睡的人多了她一样不习惯。我在国内喜欢下馆子，品尝各地美食，之后我到了美国那才叫一个惨。美国人品尝能想到的美食首先是淋着粘稠芝士的披萨（恕我直言，芝士我真的吃不惯），他们还对不同热狗（两块面包夹火腿肠）之间的微妙差异十分考究，细致到温度、气味、味蕾感触、触发的记忆等等。我说拉倒吧，你们这些“美食家”比来比去不就是几家快餐店吗？但话说回来，虽然我对美国本土餐饮不敢恭维，但我理解他们的生活方式是受他们地方的环境条件限制的，快餐文化也不是美国人脑子发热不知道世界各地的山珍海味，而是在当初殖民地时期就开始根深蒂固的传统。西方（尤其是美国）部分人出去的还是太少了，对文化差异少有一种深刻的理解，但如果你能够理解，你就更能去体会以至去欣赏这种不同。所以说文化中心论到底还是大有市场。

 

I thought Hua's point was pretty relevant, heres a loose translation for any beginners not immediately able to read:

 

"Its like the same reason I don't like going to the US. Except for the cross-country rail network built two centuries ago (connecting a handful of cities), travel by train is difficult. Travelling on the so-called 'grayhound' makes you want to crawl up and die, just sitting there fors hours on end with nothing to do. The service in a famous restaurant (I visited) in Boston was cold and standoffish. The difference in mentality is caused by the difference in culture and lifestyle; you often feel out of place when abroad, where the local way of life is just so different to what  you're used to in your own country.

 

In the video posted by someone above, its actually pretty understandable that there was a woman who said taking the overnight sleeper was a miserable experience. She said the train system in the UK (judging by her accent shes from the UK) is good (but slow), and although fares are expensive (thanks to privatisation), the facilities on the trains are high quality, and theres never any issues with crammed space or seating. A person from the UK with this kind of experience coming to China would naturally find it difficult to get used to the high speed trains, the amount of beds and the amount of people.

 

I eat out a lot here in China, and enjoy trying out different types of cuisine. When I went to the US, that side of things was pretty tragic to say the least. What people in the US seem to think counts as 'gourmet' is pizza dripping in sticky mozzarella (sorry if thats pretty blunt, I really don't get the whole cheese thing), and the in-depth obsession with hot dogs; different flavours, the smell, the texture etc. I just can't understand how this counts as 'gourmet cuisine', seems like its just glorified 'fast food'. My point is, even though I really don't get the whole 'American cuisine' thing, what I do get is that it essentially comes down to a difference in our cultures and lifestyles and how that is limiting. Its can't be the case that Americans dont understand 'real' good food, rather US cuisine is the product of a long tradition which finds its roots in colonialism.

 

The amount of westerners (Americans in particular) that go abroad is fairly low, very few have a deeper understanding of the differences between different cultures, but those that do will find seeking out these kinds of differences is in fact enjoyable. Essentially, theres a market for ethnocentricism."

[AaronUK]

I think visa is another reason, since westerners largely don’t require visas for a lot of other countries. 

[Wippen (inactive)]

12 minutes ago, AaronUK said:

think visa is another reason, since westerners largely don’t require visas for a lot of other countries. 

Good point. I don't think that was mentioned either in the article (?) If not, I just wondered what the article was aiming to achieve. There have been a number od these texts with foreigners in the headlines, addressing other topics but with similar angle. Why do so few foreigners bla bla. 

Are  all foreign countries lumped into one big group of people who all act the same? When I read this it looks like it.

[AaronUK]

I think the intention is to increase the national sense of pride. People often group Chinese into similar buckets, anyone openminded enough will look past the manufactured stereotypes.

[DavyJonesLocker]

Its difficult to compare china with other countries like Japan. Its like comparing apples and oranges. I love Japan and in hindsight often think I made a mistake coming to China. Japan is beautiful, people lovely, polite, good service , clean etc. 

Its hard for me to justify a foreigners coming to China as you have to tell them the raw truth . To some it may be just too many negatives but for others like myself the sense of awe the first time you travel around can outweight the culture shock. 

 

I travel several times around china many years ago with out a word of Chinese, mobile phone, internet etc. It was hard, lot harder than Russia but nevertheless a life changing experience.

[LiMo]

I think it's certainly true that for many people the language barrier, not to mention bad press really puts people off. If you're more familiar with China it's easy to forget that so much press is taken up with the geopolitical rivalry, oppression of Tibetans and Uyghurs, internet censorship etc. that it just comes off as more hassle than it's worth, if not downright dangerous. So many of my friends and family were concerned when I first took an interest in China, they were seriously worried about my safety. I eventually put them straight on the issue but it wouldn't surprise me if a lot more people think this way.

 

@DavyJonesLocker

I've heard similar things about Japan, but also seen some sobering reports from longer term expats. It's great and leaves a wonderful impression on tourists, but living there may not be all it's cracked up to be. Just what I've heard though. A really cool source I found is a blog written by a guy who's spent a lot of time there in many different capacities above and beyond English teaching. I highly recommend his blog as he's an excellent and extremely humourous writer. 

 

http://japaneseruleof7.com/