The third quarter of the year saw 43 million border crossings made by Chinese nationals worldwide. Among this figure, 20 million arrivals were recorded within the Greater China region (Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR and Taiwan), while the remaining 23 million – 53% of the total – were made in destinations around the rest of the world.

Overall, Q3 2018’s 43 million border crossings represent a 10% year-on-year increase against 2017’s results, while Q1 and Q2 2018’s year-on-year growth rates were 17% and 16% respectively.

COTRI’s recent results bring the total for the first three quarters of 2018 to a combined 123 million border crossings worldwide, a figure 14% higher than 2017’s equivalent. Should Q4 2017’s 37 million Chinese arrivals be matched, COTRI’s forecast total of 160 million annual border crossings for 2018 will be reached. However, factoring in a year-on-year increase of 10% as seen in Q3 2018, this total becomes 164 million.

Among destinations to have seen success in attracting Chinese arrivals in Q3 2018, Nepal stands out as a leading example having recorded 40,000 arrivals for the quarter (YoY +77%) and a total of 110,000 for the year so far.