Trends for 2012: Red Carpet for China

China is the new emperor, and companies and governments are courting the Chinese. No wonder the red carpet will extend in all places where Chinese businessmen and politicians set foot. Large stores, airlines, hotels, museums, entire cities, will multiply their efforts to provide more and better services to citizens of China, the new major player in global consumption.

Some statistics:

- Chinese residents made more than 30 million trips abroad in the first half of 2011, 20% more than in 2010. By comparison, U.S. citizens made only 37 million outbound trips during the year 2010 (Source: China Ministry of Public Security, July 2011, Office of Travel and Tourism Industries, September 2011).

- And that's just the beginning: the World Tourism Organization has estimated that the total number of outbound tourists from China will reach 100 million by 2020.

Visitors from India and Brazil should also be included in the red-carpet welcome.

Source: trendwatching.com

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