A recent research paper has shown that people in China have a stronger desire than ever to visit Britain.
This week, VisitBritain is holding its biggest Destination China tourism mission to date in Guangzhou and Hong Kong.
China ranked Britain second out if 50 countries for ‘Tourism' in the 2014 Anholt GfK Nations Brand Index study. It's Britain's best ranking to date, one place higher than in 2013.
China also upped Britain's ranking as an aspirational place to visit ‘if money was no object'. This year, the ranking is fourth – five places better than last year.
Uplifts are not a common occurrence since perception rankings are correlated with strong beliefs, which usually take quite a long time to change.
This remarkable improvement can be linked to the increasing number of Chinese tourists that visited Britain – last year there was a ten percent increase in visits and 64 per cent more tourist spending from Chinese travellers.
China also regarded Britain as a nation where ‘the people would make me feel very welcome', increasing its NBI ranking by one place, which contributed to an overall ‘People' ranking of 4th out of fifty nations.
"Chinese perceptions of Britain are better than ever and the demand for tourism is clearly there. We must continually improve our offer to stay ahead our competitors," said Joss Croft, marketing director at VisitBritain.
"This mission will build valuable new connections with the travel trade since South China is a key region for outbound tourism.
"With our biggest campaign ever launching in China this December and our GREAT China Welcome member directory, this is an exciting time for Chinese tourism to Britain."
VisitBritain's Destination China mission will be held in Guangzhou and Hong Kong until November 28th.
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