The Q3 of 2011 witnessed 19.38m. Chinese tourists heading for destinations outside the nation

After thorough study and analysis of statistic data on Chinese outbound tourists in the third quarter of 2011, as well as the data of actual reservation and transaction through ctrip.com, experts from China Tourism Academy, a professional research institution directly under the National Tourism Administration, and ctrip.com, a leading comprehensive tourism service company in China, have jointly worked out the ranking for the Top Ten Most Visited Destinations, the Top Ten Most Popular Outbound Tour Islands, the Top Ten Most Popular Self-guided Tour Destinations, the Top Ten Most Popular Outbound Tour Cities, the Top Ten Destinations of Travel Insurance Chosen by Tourists, and the Top Ten Popular Airline Companies. Besides, an in-depth insight into what’s behind the ranking is also offered by these experts.

Booming market demands and proliferating outbound tourists. In spite of the frequent occurrence of various disasters and unexpected accidents throughout the whole year in the world, Chinese outbound tour market still showed a vigorous growth as pushed by the strong demands of people in the nation. The third quarter of 2011 witnessed 19.38 million Chinese tourists heading for destinations outside the nation, a 26% year-on-year increase. To put it more specifically, the growth rate for destinations within Asia stays at 28%, America 31%, Europe 25%, Africa 15%, and others regions 72%.

Tourist flows to Japan shrunk out of unexpected accidents there, market potential further released due to relaxed visa policies. Even though Japanese government has enlarged the application scope for Chinese individual eligible to travel to Japan since July 1, and further relaxed its visa policy for Chinese individual tourists since September by abolishing the former requirements of “applicants should have occupation of certain social status and financial capability” and extending the maxima stay duration from 15 days to 30 days, A huge slump was still observed in the number of Chinese tourists heading for Japan in the third quarter. Indeed, it is a 26% drop compared with the proportion of the same period of last year. In contrast, a 27% increase was noticed in tourists heading for Korea, as stipulated by, among many other comprehensive factors, the Plan on Relaxing the Visa Criterions for Tourists from China promulgated by the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Korea, which adds Visa of multiple entries in one year into the application scope. Meanwhile, mainland tourists making Taiwan their tour destinations also increased by 12% in the third quarter as a result of the implementation of related tourism polices between the straits has deepened beyond tentative stage, and more passage flights were made available for the public.

Soaring educational and waterside tours in summer break. With the arrival of summer break, USA and Hong Kong became especially hot destinations, to which Chinese parents wish their children travel for eye-opening and life-enriching experience. As a result, USA-bounded tour rose by 34% in the third quarter, and Hong Kong-bounded tour by 25%. Ctrip.com was also a big driving force behind the scene as it has successfully organized many such educational tour groups for Chinese students during the summer break. Meanwhile, a great amount of Chinese tourists were found flocking to scenic islands for a cool summer and as a response to the enhanced tourism publicity efforts from such island countries. For example, Chinese tourists to Thailand grew by over 47% in the third quarter, Malaysia 87%. It is noticed by ctrip.com from the outbound tourism cases it has assisted in during the same period that Phuket Island, Bali Island, Maldives, Chejudo Island turned out to be the ones for which visas are most easily to get. Island tours facilitated by convenient traffic are most popular in summer time.

Individual tours driven heavily by the relaxed visa policies. Individual tour, which accounted for 92% of Chinese outbound tour in the third quarter, was indisputably the significant driving force behind the swift growth. Self-guided tour, which was on an upwards trend during the recent years, is subject to successful application of visas. It is found by ctrip.com that the most popular self-guided tour destinations are those boasting low threshold for visa application or having their visa procedures simplified greatly. Starting from the third quarter of this year, many countries and regions, with Japan and Korean as exceptions, have simplified their visa requirements for Chinese tourism applicants. For example, Ireland has added China into the coverage of its Short-term Visa-free Plan. New Zealand has reformed its application procedures for tourism visa to a great extend with application document package in Chinese allowed now.

Improved service quality made outbound tour more attractive. In order to cater to the skyrocketing demands of Chinese people touring abroad, overseas countries rushed to introduce more flights to directly connect with China. For example, starting from the third quarter, the direct flights between Gimpo and Beijing were made possible by Korean Air; direct flights between Chinese domestic cities and Hawaii were operated on a regular basis. According to Plan of Spain to Attract More Chinese Tourists, various measures will be adopted for this purpose. Among others, more offices will be set across China by European tourism authorities; more travel brochures will be published in Chinese; more tourism products will be tailored out to adapt to Chinese tourists. In addition, Victoria State of Australia has announced its 10-year tourism business promotion plan aiming at China. Air France is stepping up its efforts in providing ground service, broadcast service, cabin crew service in Chinese as well as Chinese-flavored food, etc. Two hotel giants, namely Hilton and Starwood Hotels & Resorts, planed to assign a Chinese-speaking staff in many hotels under their umbrella, with teapot and slippers available in each guest room, Chinese-styled breakfast and chopsticks provided upon request.

Joint-venture travel agency started to engage in Chinese outbound tour business. The so-called “catfish effect” has been brought into play with the involvement of joint-venture travel agency in Chinese outbound tour business. JTB New Century International Tours Co., Ltd. started to organize Chinese citizens to tour abroad on August 25, with its itinerary mainly focused on six counties in northeast Japan.

The Top Ten Most Visited Destinations in the Third Quarter: Hong Kong China, Macau China, Korea, Malaysia, USA, Japan, Thailand, Taiwan China, Singapore, Russia.

The Top Ten Most Popular Outbound Tour Islands in the Third Quarter: Phuket Island, Bali Island, Maldives, Chejudo Island, Hawaii, Sabah, Okinawa, Boracay Island, Saipan Island, Mauritius.
The Top Ten Most Popular Self-guided Tour Destinations in the Third Quarter: Hong Kong, Phuket Island, Maldives, Bali Island, Singapore, Hawaii, Seoul, Tokyo, Sabah, Cambodia.

The Top Ten Most Popular Outbound Tour Cities in the Third Quarter: Hong Kong, Bangkok, Seoul, Singapore, Tokyo, Taipei, Osaka, Kuala Lumpur, Macao, Rome.

The Top Ten Destinations of Travel Insurance Chosen by Tourists in the Third Quarter: Europe, Taiwan China, Malaysia, Australia, Vietnam, Korea, the Philippines, Bali Indonesia, Thailand, USA.
The Top Ten Popular Airline Companies in the Third Quarter: China Eastern Airlines and Shanghai Airlines, Cathay Pacific Airways and Dragon Airlines, Hong Kong Airlines and Hong Kong Express Airways, Air China International, Asiana Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Juneyao Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Air Macau, Korean Air.

MAKE YOUR TRAVEL WORRY FREE WITH TRAVEL INSURANCE

As you plan your next travel experience you should be certain not to overlook one very important detail—travel insurance. Many travelers opt to skip this step in the hopes of saving a little money. What you may not know is that insurance does not have to be expensive. In fact, this very cheap travel add-on can get you one thing that money does not always buy--peace of mind.

When you invest in a high quality policy you are guaranteeing that if the unthinkable happens and you or someone in your party experiences an accident or becomes ill, you are protected. For Australians traveling abroad, travel insurance will protect you from financial disaster should and accident or illness incur. You will also be protected in the case of property theft. The Australian government believes insurance is important enough to advise travelers to skip their trips altogether if they are not insured.

Medical situations are a particularly important consideration when determining whether or not to invest in an insurance policy. The need for insurance is not limited to international travel however, and you would do well to investigate insurance that covers inside Australia trips too.

You can select an insurance policy that covers a wide range of misfortunes including trip cancellation or interruption, medical costs, and theft of property. Policies are available in a wide range of types from insurance for the mature traveler to special insurance for backpackers. Prices will vary policy to policy but you can find cheap travel insurance. There are many reasonably priced policies available that will offer you good coverage. If you are a frequent traveler, you may determine that an annual policy is the way to go or you may be able to secure insurance through your employer.

Finding cheap insurance to cover your trip is not difficult. You need only turn to the closest computer and search for trip insurance. You will find many websites that offer comprehensive search services. You will find sites that offer information and price quotations for single companies as well as good portal sites that will provide you with price quotations for a number of companies. All you need to do is enter your information once and you’ll receive all the information you need to locate a policy that will give you the comfort of knowing that you can travel without worry.

The next time you travel do not neglect to include travel insurance in your plans. It only takes one occurrence to erase your savings and eat up your nest egg. You do not want this to happen to you. When you purchase insurance for your trip you are not only buying peace of mind you are buying protection for your family and your assets. That is one detail you definitely don’t want to over look.

Travel reminders for snowbirds

With fall just around the corner, many snowbirds are itching to finalize their travel plans to warmer climes. If you count yourself among these lucky-ducks, make sure you've made the all necessary arrangements before heading to Florida, Mexico or the Caribbean.

Here's a quick checklistto help you get organized:

Tell a trusted friend or family-member about your plans and ask them to keep an eye on your place while you're away.
Secure your home and turn off the water.
Cancel the newspapers.
Forward or stop mail delivery.
Make photocopies of your travel and personal documents for yourself and the trusted friend or family-member as a precaution.
If you're driving to your destination, find out if you need supplemental car insurance.
Find out if you need to update your shots.
Let your bank and credit card company know about your travel plans to avoid any confusion or service disruption.
Most important, buy travel insurance.
While most people know that travel insurance is important, many people may not be aware that it is now a prerequisite for entering Cuba.

"Since May 1, 2010, Cuban authorities require visitors to provide proof that they can cover their own medical costs," said François Morel, a sales consultant at Desjardins Financial Security. "Subsequently, the Cuba Tourist Board advised that Canadians could present their provincial health insurance cards as proof of medical insurance. But, supplemental travel insurance is necessary because the provincial health insurance plans only offer minimum medical coverage abroad."

"Regardless of whether you're out of the country for a day or for several weeks, accidents or illnesses happen all the time and it's best to be prepared," said Morel. "Hospital stays abroad can reach into the tens of thousands of dollars. So, it's best to take a few minutes to buy reliable travel insurance coverage."

Here are some things to remember when buying travel insurance:

It's convenient: It can be bought on the internet or by phone.
It's flexible: You'll find the right policy that suits your needs based on your age, health situation and trip duration.
It's reliable: Coverage provides 24/7 medical assistance support so you know you can count on someone in case of an emergency.

Understanding Your Travel Insurance Plan

Those traveling anywhere around the U.S. East Coast this weekend will most likely be sitting tight as Category 3 Hurricane Irene barrels her way up the Atlantic. For those who bought travel insurance, you'll need to know what your policy covers to get the most out of your plan.

Travel insurance covers "unforeseen circumstances," or situations that arise due to sudden, unanticipated conditions or events. If you are involved in a car crash, injure yourself, lose your luggage during your trip, become ill, or are delayed and miss your connection, or, in this case, you run into a hurricane (and all the travel casualties that come with it), you'll be happy you had travel insurance.

The U.S. National Weather Service Hurricane Center is asking potential travelers with insurance to re-examine their coverage in preparation for the storm. If your trip is cancelled, cut short or you need to return home early because your home or property has suffered damage from the storm, most travel insurance policies will reimburse your claim for lost travel expenses.

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Unfortunately, travelers without insurance cannot run out and buy it today if you are traveling during the storm. In order for insurance to be valid against a hurricane or other bad weather, a policy must be purchased no later than the day before a tropical storm or hurricane is identified and named by the U.S. National Weather Service. After the storm has been recognized, it is no longer unforeseen and travelers cannot purchase insurance for it.

Even when you do have proper insurance, there are stipulations that must be met for your cancelled or interrupted trip to be covered. Most basic policies cover:

Weather causes complete cessation of common carrier services for at least 24 consecutive hours.
The traveler's primary residence is made uninhabitable by hurricane, flood or other natural disaster.
The destination accommodations are made uninhabitable by hurricane, flood or other natural disaster.
If your trip is cancelled for a covered reason, companies will refund the prepaid, forfeited, non-refundable trip costs up to the limit of coverage.

If you have purchased a more advanced plan, like Travel Insured's Worldwide Trip Protector plan and Worldwide Trip Protector Gold plan, you can receive additional trip interruption coverage if:

Mandatory evacuation is ordered by local authorities in the destination due to a natural disaster or hurricane. There must be 50 percent or less of the total trip length remaining after the evacuation ends for Trip Cancellation coverage to apply.
When the insured's arrival at the destination is delayed and causes the loss of 50 percent or more of the scheduled trip duration due to reasons covered by the Trip Delay benefit (described below).
You can receive trip delay coverage if:

A weather-caused delay of the insured's common carrier occurs for either six or more hours, or for 12 or more hours, depending upon the specific plan selected.
Your airport is closed due to severe weather or high winds.
A delay is caused by a documented traffic accident (such a flooding or a fallen tree) when the insured or his or her travel companion was en route to a departure, whether they are directly or not directly involved.
If severe weather conditions cause you to miss a connecting flight that can affect the rest of your trip or cruise, most plans have missed connection coverage. If a common carrier delay of three or more hours due to weather causes the insured traveler to miss his or her cruise or tour departure, then you will be covered. Depending on your plan, you can be reimbursed for costs to rejoin the trip as well as meal and accommodation expenses, and non-refundable payments for the unused portion of the trip or cruise.

If the storm directly affects your travel plans, you are entitled to a refund. But, if you are worried that the predicted storm path will be too close for your liking, you can choose to cancel a trip based on what you think might happen, and not what actually does. It is your choice and will not be covered by standard travel insurance.

Travelers with Cancel for Any Reason travel insurance do have the luxury of postponing or canceling a trip based on hurricane threats, warnings or general uneasiness about traveling during the storm. Those with Cancel for Any Reason insurance can cancel flights or trips even when carriers and hotels are operating normally. This may be a good insurance to purchase for uneasy travelers or those traveling with families as it covers many circumstances that regular travel insurance does not.

If you are still unsure if you will be covered this weekend, or anytime in the future, check with your specific travel insurance company for details about your trip and your policy.

If you don't have travel insurance and are a frequent traveler, consider purchasing a plan to save the most the next time "unforeseen circumstances" arise.

Why a $200 Travel Insurance Policy is Better than a $500 Policy, Advises Squaremouth

The recent increase of hurricane activity has many travelers inquiring about travel insurance. The most common question is why some travel insurance plans are less expensive but offer more benefits. The answer is simple, they hit the “sweet spot.” Squaremouth.com, a site for comparing and purchasing travel insurance, explains that the situation is common among travel insurance policies and simply means someone has qualified for the best rate.

“Don’t be concerned that the travel insurance policy is inferior simply because of it’s low price,” says Sarah Byrne, Marketing Manager at Squaremouth. Since travel insurance providers all have an ideal customer in mind, each product is aimed at a different demographic.This explains why some plans are less expensive but offer better benefits.

“Although the ideal customer will vary from one insurer to the next, travelers who look for their sweet spot can typically find significant savings,” says Chris Harvey, CEO of Squaremouth.

For example, someone buying a travel insurance policy close to the departure date should look for plans from CSA Travel Protection. Since CSA is the only travel insurance provider that changes the cost of their policies the closer someone is to traveling, these policies can be a better value one month before the trip versus one year before the trip.

Other travel insurance providers determine their ideal customer based on the traveler’s age, trip length and trip cost. Travelex Insurance Services, Travel Insured International and Travel Guard offer policies that cover kids for free. “Since traveling with the whole family can get expensive, it’s wise for travelers to be aware of these money saving opportunities,” says Byrne.

It is also common for travel insurance providers to target students studying abroad. iTravelInsured offers the Student Travel policy that is competitively price for someone in their 20s, however, it typically has less medical and medical evacuation coverage than many other travel insurance policies.

Whether a travel insurance policy is $200 or $500, it’s important to remember that the price of the policy does not determine the quality of coverage or service. Compare policies, if a less expensive policy has the same coverage as a more expensive policy, it’s the sweet spot.

Travel insurance warning over North Africa

Travellers to North Africa and the Middle East have been urged to heed government travel advice or face losing insurance cover.

Stuart Bensusan of Thomas Cook-owned EssentialTravel.co.uk said: “Consumers need to listen and adhere to the advice given by the Foreign Office as travel insurance does not cover anybody travelling to an area once it has been deemed unsafe.

“If passengers travel prior to the Foreign Office warnings, they will be covered for medical expenses and repatriation, hospital benefit and personal accident as normal.”

He was speaking as foreign secretary William Hague admitted Britons trying to escape the violent crisis in Libya were facing “significant difficulties”.

Many are stuck at Tripoli airport without immediate flights out of the country following flight cancellations, closures of airspace and difficulties securing permits from the appropriate authorities.

A chartered aircraft is due to travel to Libya in the next 48 hours on a rescue mission but is subject to landing clearances and permissions from the Libyan government.

British Airways and Bmi were among carriers forced to cancel flights to Libya yesterday as violence across the country escalated.

Royal Navy Frigate HMS Cumberland is being redeployed from the Eastern Mediterranean to international waters near Libya in case it is required to play a role in assisting British nationals.

"We are working closely with airlines to assist as many British nationals as possible to depart Libya,” he said. “In addition, I have decided to mobilise further resources in support of an assisted departure.”

Bensusan added: “Further to the widespread civil unrest across the Middle East and Northern Africa, protests have now spread to Morocco, including the popular city of Marrakech.

“Although we understand that there is less chance of a full scale uprising in the area, we would still advise passengers due to travel to keep abreast of this fast moving situation.

"We are advising all our customers to be vigilant when travelling to the Middle East and Africa. They should seek the help of their tour operator or airline where necessary.”

Holidaymakers to get more protection as ministers plan to reform travel protection

Proposed government reforms could give holidaymakers more protection if their tour operator collapses.

Theresa Villiers, Transport Minister, recently announced the plans to the Commons. She said: "The proportion of holidays with ATOL protection has fallen and it can be difficult for consumers and the travel industry to know which holidays are protected and which are not. The proposed reforms will make it easier for everyone to understand which holidays are covered and will restore protection to what looks like a package holiday, but now falls outside the legal definition.’’

Ms Villiers told MPs that flaws in the system were exposed by the recent big tour operator collapses, including Goldtrail and Sun4U last year, Freedom Direct in 2009 and XL in 2008.

The Air Travel Organiser’s Licensing scheme was established to offer financial protection to consumers buying package holidays, however the recent trend of buying holidays online and purchasing flights and hotels separately has meant that many holidaymakers are no longer covered by the system.

Travellers with congenital heart defects advised to take out adequate insurance

Those who have a pre-existing medical condition, such as a congenital heart defect (CHD), are being offered competitive travel insurance by goodtogoinsurance.com so they can travel abroad with adequate protection.

Congenital heart defects are birth defects of the heart which are lethal. They affect millions of newborn infants worldwide and lead to thousands of deaths every year.

Sarah Findlay, Marketing Manager for goodtogoinsurance.com, explained: "Living with a congenital heart defect doesn’t have to mean the end of holidays abroad. However, our research has identified that all too often CHD sufferers and their families face very high insurance premiums or can’t find the right level of cover for their specific needs. The result is that some sufferers may choose to travel without declaring their condition, leaving them with no protection if the worst should happen on their trip."

She added that the travel insurance provider can screen anyone and offer travel insurance for most cases.

How to ensure your travel insurance meets your needs

While many people focus on their eventual destination, securing the best possible deal they can find from any number of travel agents, searching for the best value flights at the most convenient airport and ensuring that they get value on almost all aspects of their holiday, too often holiday insurance is a last minute, impulsive buy.

Such a move in 2011 and beyond could prove to be expensive. Industry experts have reported that due to the rising costs of insurance in general, not to mention events around the globe; such as the problems in popular tourist destinations such as Egypt and Tunisia of late, that travel insurance policies are set for a considerable rise over the next few months.

There are many other factors to be considered, especially in light of recent events, which mean it may be wise to consider the finer print on any travel insurance policy in more detail and could mean that an annual holiday insurance policy could be the best deal for you.

So, what are the key details that any holidaymaker in the UK should to consider from their travel insurance?

The first is of course that it applies to your situation. If you are a single person travelling abroad for a skiing holiday for example, then you are going to require a very different policy to that of a family travelling abroad for a couple of weeks in the sun. Ensure that your policy relates specifically to your holiday, your circumstances and also any activities, especially those that involve a degree of risk or expensive specialist equipment, which you may be undertaking while away.

The reason for this is simple. It could be false economy to take out the cheapest possible policy for your holiday if the cover is not going to be sufficient for your needs. There is little point in obtaining cheap cover for a holiday if your skis are lost, or stolen, or you or a member of your party is seriously injured while away, and your policy does not cover you for such incidents.

This is particularly important to consider when looking for family travel insurance. Families, especially those with younger children, can often encounter unforeseen and unavoidable problems while on holiday. Children are unique beings in that, as joyous as they are, they can encounter problems in almost any situation, regardless of whether you are at home or abroad. Ensuring that your family holiday insurance covers you and your loved ones in the event of accident, theft or emergency is vital to ensure you can enjoy your holiday with peace of mind.

It is important also to bear in mind that recent events, such as the problems that have flared up in Egypt and Tunisia, can often have a serious impact on travellers in that region. It is therefore vital to read the small print of any policy and ensure wherever possible that insurance companies will sufficiently compensate any holidaymaker, should their holiday be cut short.

Very many holiday insurance policies will state categorically that they will not pay out in the event of civil or social unrest, categorising this along with other major unforeseeable events, such as natural disasters or war. Given what has occurred in North Africa of late, it makes sense for people considering going to countries where this may be a problem to ensure that their travel insurance covers them should the worst occur.

Another item to look for on any travel insurance policy includes compensation for airport delays. Some policies offer their holders a cash sum as compensation if they are stranded at an airport beyond a stated period.

Finally, if any member of your party is travelling with a known medical condition, it is vital they contact the travel insurance provider to discuss the options available to them.

Not all Travel Insurance policies are the same and it would be wise to investigate the options to ensure that your loved ones and your holiday are properly protected.

Over 50 per cent of people purchase travel insurance online

According to research conducted by travel insurance specialist World First Travel Insurance, over 50 per cent of their past customers decided to buy their travel insurance policy online, direct with their chosen insurer .

Independent research company, PFA Research, targeted over 600 people throughout the UK who had previously taken out insurance with World First Travel Insurance. The research was carried out to observe trends in booking patterns. World First Travel Insurance has seen a sharp rise in online bookings over six months and wanted to establish if this was at the cost of other, more traditional methods of buying travel insurance .

Overall, 63 percent of respondents said they buy their travel insurance online . Of those people, a surprising 51 percent said they would buy it direct with their chosen insurer with just 12 percent buying through a price comparison site . The second most favoured way for people to buy travel insurance is over the telephone .