Road-trip travel to drive tourism industry

A leading online travel service reports its domestic car rental business has seen stellar annual growth rate of 150 percent

Driving for sightseeing, once marginal in China's tourism industry, is coming into vogue and stimulating the car rental business.

According to a new report, more than 40 percent of airline and train to passengers want to rent cars after their arrival.

Ctrip International Ltd, one of the leading online travel service providers, recently released its new car rental report.

It says its domestic car rental business has enjoyed a stellar growth rate of 150 percent year-on-year.

According to the report, Dali and Lijiang in Yunnan province and Guiyang in Guizhou province are the three fastest-growing tourism destinations, with a year-on-year growth rate almost reaching 200 percent.

By the end of 2015, there were 320 million holders of driving licenses in China. As a new way of traveling, driving is welcomed by the younger generation of tourists.

According to the China National Tourism Administration, in 2015 more than 4 billion visits by Chinese travelers were made within the country, and more than 3.2 billion of those trips were tourists traveling on their own, among them those who took road trips using their own cars.

A report by international consultants Roland Berger says in the next five years, visits by tourists driving on their own will enjoy an average annual growth rate of 16 percent.

Of the tourists who rent cars for their trips, about two-fifths are from Shanghai and Beijing, Ctrip found. It says that Shenzhen and Guangzhou in Guangdong province, Chengdu in Sichuan province and Hangzhou in Zhejiang province also have potential for further development for such tourism.

Xu Xiaolei, a spokesman for China Youth Travel Service Co, says driving tourism has triggered travel agencies to develop new business.

"Travel agencies are good at providing package services including travel routes, transportation and hotel bookings, as well as providing tour guides," he says.

"With more and more tourists booking tailored services, we have been deploying car rental services in areas covering vast territory and in areas with a limited public transportation network.

"Car rental business for tourists has great potential, not only in China but also overseas. I think car rental is essential for tourists. Take the western United States for an example, tourists would not enjoy the tour if they didn't rent a car."

suzhou@chinadaily.com.cn