F REIGN TRADE - 中国国际贸易促进委员会

Table 1 The Number of Europeans Coming to
China (ten thousand), 2010-2011
Table 2 Major Festivals in Europe
Time Britain France Germany Total
201001 4.21 3.59 4.49 12.29
201002 3.53 3.05 3.42 10
201003 5.55 4.03 5.96 15.54
201004 5.03 4.44 4.93 14.4
201005 4.99 4.96 5.79 15.74
201006 4.38 4.04 4.71 13.13
201007 4.94 5.09 4.73 14.76
201008 4.85 5.14 5.44 15.43
201009 5.14 4.39 5.39 14.92
201010 6.18 5.75 6.81 18.74
201011 5.1 3.64 5.22 13.96
201012 3.61 3.16 3.98 10.75
201101 4.37 3.61 4.81 12.79
201102 3.86 3.42 4.34 11.62
201103 5.32 3.93 5.21 14.46
201104 5.88 4.82 5.89 16.59
201105 5.12 4.42 5.77 15.31
201106 4.45 3.64 4.61 12.7
201107 5.08 4.57 5.13 14.78
201108 4.97 4.73 5.78 15.48
201109 5.12 3.91 5.51 14.54
201110 6.2 5.19 7.01 18.4
201111 5.11 3.71 5.49 14.31
201112 4.08 3.37 4.15 11.6
Data Source: National Tourism Administration of the People’s
Republic of China.
Figure 2: The Number of Europeans Traveling to
China (ten thousand) (Jan 1, 2010-Dec 12, 2011)
20
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Festival
Date
New Year's Day January 1
Easter
Labor Day (May 1) May 1
Ascension Day
Pentecost
Variable (March / April)
Variable (May)
Feast of the Assumption August 15
Variable (May / June)
Halloween November 1
Christmas December 25
Boxing Day
St. Stephen Day
The British travel to
China 2010
The British travel to
China 2011
The French travel to
China 2010
The French travel to
China 2011
German travel to
China 2010
Germay travel to
China 2011
Europeans travel to
China 2010
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Europeans travel to
China 2011
Data Source: National Tourism Administration of the People’s Republic of China
December 26
In February, the number of Europeans coming to China
went to the lowest. There are two reasons, on the one hand, the
Chinese Spring Festival is in February, and on the other hand
there are some influential festivals in February in Europe, such
as the Venice Carnival and Munich’s Oktoberfest, which may
attract a large number of Europeans.
From February to April, it’s a good period to come to
China, so there are usually a lot of Europeans traveling to
China. However, there is a decline in May, which is caused by
the local festivals of Europe in May and June.
From June to August, the number of tourists will rise,
and in September the number decreases. The reason is that
most of Europeans usually have holidays in July and August,
and return to work in September.
The number of tourists will reach a new peak in October
each year, and there is a sharp decline in November and December.
This is because it is near Christmas, the most important
festival in Europe.
Clearly, the time position and duration of holidays are
very important considerations when people arrange their travels,
particularly overseas trips.
Dependent factors of the holiday
impact
Holidays have impact on China-EU
trade in goods and services, but the impact
is significantly constrained by many factors.
If some holidays are concentrated
in one month, the impact of the holidays
would be super imposed.
According to Figure 1, in January
2012, the China-EU trade dropped significantly
compared with the same period
last year because the Spring Festival
and New Year’s Day were concentrated
in January, leading to only 17 working
days in January, 4 days less than a usual
month. So the decline is very obvious in
2012.
21