Around 70 million Chinese travelled overseas in 2011, up by over 38 per cent on 2010 figures, of which an estimated 300,000 Chinese tourists visited the UAE spending $334 million, said a World Tourism Council report.

The number of Chinese travelling overseas is forecast to reach 84 million by 2015, and 100 million by 2020, the report added. “Officials have released data that shows outbound tourism from China has grown 20 per cent in the first five months of 2012, which is consistent with our experience and that of the Dubai market overall,” said Mohamed Awadalla, area vice president, Time Hotels Management.

"We too have seen a significant increase of inbound Chinese business to our Dubai properties over the last 12 months, with the Time Grand Plaza in Al Qusais reporting an 86 per cent rise in room nights year-to-date from leisure visitors, and our Al Barsha property, has been witnessing a rise in Chinese corporate business, especially long-staying guests,” he added.

Per capita spending by Chinese visitors is also reportedly the highest at Dh4,092 ($1,114) compared with Dh3,477 per average British tourist and Dh3,996 per average Kuwaiti tourist. But this pales almost into insignificance once compared with global spending figures of $72 billion last year, ranking third highest spenders behind the Germans and Americans at $84 billion and $79 billion respectively.

To capitalise on opportunities to grow this lucrative sector still further, Time Hotels Management is participating in next month’s inaugural Chinese Visitor Summit, jointly organised by Dubai-based NPI and i2i Group China, which will bring together over 75 top tier Chinese travel buyers - with budgets exceeding $5 million - with leading tourism industry suppliers.

Clearly one of the main drivers is retail, said Sean Staunton, vice chairman of Dubai Duty Free. Of the annual turnover of $1.46 billion, some 18 per cent was attributed to Chinese travellers, although they made up less than four per cent of the total numbers.

Forty per cent of watch sales, 32 per cent of cosmetics and 20 per cent of sunglasses were attributed to the Chinese market, he said.

According to Global Blue, a shopping tourism company, 20 per cent of all global tax-free shopping is made by Chinese shoppers. "We’ve been tracking the travel patterns of the dragon economy tourist since the Chinese government granted the UAE ‘approved destination’ status in 2009,” said Awadalla.

"With a flying time of around eight hours, and the recent surge in connectivity with route expansion by both Emirates and Etihad, as well as Chinese carriers, the UAE is a hugely popular destination, offering high quality hotel accommodation as well as upscale retail opportunities that appeal to the growing number of affluent Chinese visitors.”

The Chinese Visitor Summit, which will be held in Dubai on September 5 and 6, includes face-to-face meeting opportunities and the chance to participate in a series of interactive sessions covering multiple aspects of doing business in the Chinese marketplace, complemented by a number of networking events.