Recruiting in China

Wealthy Chinese spent more on traveling last year with interest in experiential travel emerging as a new trend, a survey has found.

They spent U.S.$58,000 in average household consumption on travel last year, an increase of 5.5 percent year on year, according to the Chinese Luxury Traveler 2015 jointly released by the Hurun Research Institute and ILTM Asia. Their expenditure per capita hit U.S.$22,600.

The wealthy spent an average of 20 days on travel during the year, up 10 percent or two days more than 2013, according to the report which surveyed 291 super rich travelers, or those who spent U.S.$30,000 or more on travel last year.

Australia was the top destination for the wealthy Chinese, with France in second spot. The Maldives came in third in the preferred international luxury travel destinations, followed by Dubai, the survey found.

Leisure trips, polar exploration and global travel were cited as top choices last year, the report said.

The North Pole and South Pole have become popular as one third of the respondents said they went to either place last year, spending an average of U.S.$19,300 per capita.

"The recent popularity of Antarctica for the Chinese luxury travelers shows how much experiential travel is now on the cards," said Rupert Hoogewerf, Hurun's founder.

The report predicted holiday themes to change among the luxury travelers to enjoying local life and culture as well as novel and extreme challenging experiences.

Domestically, Sanya in Hainan Province, Tibet and Hong Kong were the most popular destinations for luxury travelers, the survey found.