When it comes to obtaining advice related to travel, mainland Chinese still prefer to seek first-hand information from someone they know over other third-party sources.
In a recent GfK study carried out among Chinese travellers, more than half of the respondents (52%) said they rely on their personal contacts such as friends, family and colleagues to get travel-related information?the highest of all touch points?online and offline. Meta search websites and online travel agent websites jointly trailed behind in close second positions at 51%.
GfK conducted the Consumer Travel Tracker study in China in February 2015 to provide the tourism industry with a broader understanding on China travellers? booking behaviour for outbound leisure holidays. The survey was conducted among 1,000 respondents who have made a travel booking in the past three months.
?Even with the proliferation and growing consumer dependency on the internet for all kinds of information, the local norm of seeking information via word of mouth still prevails here,? says Lawrence Liew, North Asia Director for Travel & Hospitality at GfK.
?However, the growing influence of the internet cannot be avoided, as the other top sources of travel information are still online touch points.?
When it comes to making the actual booking, online supersedes offline as the preferred channel, occupying 63% share of the market. Amongst the online booking channels, Online Travel Agents? websites are most popular, used by 46% of all travellers.