Chinese tourists are the most sought after throughout the world

The Bird's Nest is empty. After 16 days of competition, 109 gold medals, a few controversial and powerfully disappointing moments, the Beijing Winter Olympics are done. Left only with memories of world-class athletes performing outrageously well on ice and snow in some of the craziest conditions, I do commend China for putting on a good show.

Even if they finished third behind Norway and Germany with the most gold medals, I bet the Chinese achieved a major -- albeit an understated -- goal: they beat the USA. Whereas, NBC admitted these winter games had very poor viewership in the States, this was not true in China, and, right now, this is a country bursting with national pride. In the midst of covid and with very few embarrassing moments, China proved to the world, as well as to its people, they were logistically capable of handling such a difficult and demanding world-class sporting production.

I applaud them for a job well done, but I also now realize there was a whole lot more going on than just winter sports. First of all, please understand I am not someone who buys into the idea of American exceptionalism (about the USA being the best and the brightest in the world) so coming in 4th does not bother me. Also, I did not ever believe all those Kumbaya moments on display from this authoritarian government during the games, and, instead, tend to agree with Napoleon's opinion of China, "That (country) is a sleeping dragon. Let him sleep! If he wakes, he will shake the world."

In my post Olympic analysis, Napoleon's 200 year old remark seemed to hold a thread of truth: this country is no longer a sleeping dragon or a rising power, but a power whose time has come. I was thinking it was such a stroke of genius to have their moment played out before a world audience, but, then, I remembered something. Hold on, let's rewind. During the entire 2 weeks of these winter games, I never saw a single -come-to-China-and-see-our-beautiful-country- and-meet- our- wonderful- people type of ad?.

Isn't that a little strange? Imagine how stunningly impressive the view from a snow covered Great Wall of China would have been! None of the treasured spots of this ancient land that my clients at Monroe Travel Service have flown halfway around the world to enjoy were ever shown, and that is when it hit me: these Olympic games were not staged just for the world, they were staged for the people of China. I am thinking Chairman Xi's subliminal goal was achieved. He wanted to impress his people, to create that national pride moment, and to make them envision China's place in this new world order.

Now, as a big red, white and blue fan, I understand that. Whenever I travel, I have always been proud to say I am from the USA, but, when I read an article about how the world -- and in particular, the Austrian National Tourist Board for one-- had started wooing the Chinese, I was a little miffed. After all, for so many years, our country has been the most sought after travelers in the world.

Tourism statistics clearly show our financial generosity.Why in 2019, the last good year before covid shut everything down and, thereby, the metric by which our industry measures everything now, Americans spent $179.1 billion dollars on international travel, so why ever would Austria be spending such a huge chunk of their tourism budget to court the Chinese -- and not the USA?

In search of an answer, I emailed a concierge whose friend at the Austrian Tourist Office very politely suggested I had possibly overlooked one very important aspect of the Beijing Olympics. While I believed I was watching a go-for-the-gold competition, tourism offices all over the world were trying to figure out how to best bank the gold. In other words, they were looking at the economic impact they wanted to come their way.

With the Beijing Olympics, a whole new winter sport market was created in China, and Austria is hungry for a piece of that action to return to them. As explained to me, in a population of 1.4 billion, about 300 million have become a part of this luxury market that skis, skates, and curls. They began to hone their skills, support the development and growth of local ski and winter resort areas, and buy fashion and gear made in China from the minute Beijing was awarded the Olympics. The new rich of China are addicted to the sport, and Austria has had a taste of what that market segment brings to the table.

Let me explain. In 2018, Austria welcomed 1 million Chinese visitors who spent $1.5 million in overnight hotel stays, and, of that number, only 30 percent came in the winter season. Like most of my travelers at Monroe Travel Service, these Chinese visitors only went to Vienna and the alpine cities of Salzburg and Innsbruck, but, by 2019, everything had changed. Austria had over 346 million Chinese visitors, and, in addition to Vienna, they began skiing and spending money in ski resorts like Arlberg, Ski Amadé and Ötztal-Sölden.

Austria, which has always enjoyed 50% of the European ski market, was on a rocky mountain high from this nouveau rich and young Chinese market, but then covid hit. Now, that the world is opening again, Austria, like other tourist boards around the world, is agressively doing everything possible to entice the Chinese travelers to look their way and the reason for this is mind boggling. The records show that in 2020, a serious lockdown year for the Chinese, their government issued 240 million passports to first time ever travelers.

I repeat, that was 240 million passports in one year, folks, and, mind you, this is in addition to those already holding passports. Holy cow! As more and more of the world is getting green-lighted again, these numbers are already changing the travel horizon. With summer and fall bookings growing, the travel industry is seeing new patterns in the marketplace, especially among the Chinese. For example, like most of my international travelers, they, too,are preferring escorted tours with small group numbers. In a population known for traveling together in large family units and group packs, this is a major shift.

Considering travel is a fragile commodity and often available on a limited basis right now, tour companies and river cruises are scrambling to address this new demand. Inevitably, with all these additional travelers and their desire for smaller group trips, there is sure to be a trickle down effect on availability for everyone. This is why the importance of planning now cannot be understated.

Being able to enjoy a dream vacation in your destination of choice when you want to go requires advance planning and the consideration of the Chinese calendar! Their holidays are entirely different from ours. This is certainly not a big deal, but, because the sheer number of Chinese travelers is always so great during these holiday periods, it is not something to overlook, especially if your plans involve a trip to Australia, New Zealand, and the South Pacific.

Now, here is the good news. Despite what Mr. Putin might think, our planet is certainly big enough for all of us to enjoy. Still, just like we saw in the Olympics, getting a good start is very often the key to a successful outcome. The same is true with travel. We have all been reminded that life is unpredictable, and, suddenly, carpe diem does not feel like a cliche, but more of a call to action. Let's make plans for your next dream trip soon.

In Beijing, the motto of the Olympics was "Together for a shared future." The idea worked well in the winter games, so I see no reason why it will not work in the world of travel, too!

Dianne Newcomer is a travel agent at Monroe Travel Service. For your next vacation, please call 318 323 3465 or email INFO@MONROETRAVEL.com. We would love to send you away!

This article originally appeared on Monroe News-Star: Chinese tourists are the most sought after throughout the world