2010-07-02 10:12

SHANGHAI - Married for less than two years, 29-year-old Zhang Jia, a secretary at a multinational company, is planning her second honeymoon because, as she said, a vacation in Europe now seems affordable after the rise in the value of the yuan against the euro.

A typical group tour, visiting one to three countries in Europe for two weeks, including flights, accommodations and local tours costs between 10,000 and 20,000 yuan per person, which was at least 15,000 yuan two years ago, Yu Weihua, a travel agent with Shanghai-based China International Travel Service, said.

Yu does not offer specific discounts for yuan appreciation but rather will provide better quality tours.

"We will make minor adjustments to travel plans when the yuan value further increases, including providing better hotels and visiting more locations," said Yu.

"I couldn't afford to spend the first honeymoon overseas two years ago, then I chose Shenzhen," Zhang recalled. "Paris and Florence were only a dream."

According to China Foreign Exchange Trading System, the exchange rate for the yuan against the US dollar was 6.8275 on June 18, a day before China said that it would ditch the peg to the US dollar, while the exchange rate surged more than half a percentage point to reach 6.7858 on Thursday, a new five-year high.

Year on year, the yuan has gained approximately 15 percent against the euro.

While economists and market analysts debate the potential impact of the latest developments on the currency front, many high-income Chinese professionals from the emerging middle-classes in the major cities, especially Shanghai, still believe they are getting more bang for their buck.

Zhang stated that due to a weaker euro she can stay in France and Italy longer and possibly buy more souvenirs.

The appreciation of the yuan will encourage more overseas spending, said analysts.

Chen Yue, manager with European division of Shanghai Airlines Tours International, told China Daily that the number of outbound travelers they handled so far this year soared between 40 and 50 percent from a year earlier.

"We have been handling an average of 1,300 customers every month since the beginning of this year, with 30 to 40 tours booked each day," Chen said.

Data from Euromonitor International shows that up to 35 million Chinese traveled overseas in 2009, growth of 4 percent over 2008, and triple the number of 10 years ago.

The United Nation's World Tourism Organization said worldwide tourism spending fell 9.6 percent to $852 billion in 2009.

Despite the weak tourism spending worldwide due to the financial crisis, China's consumers are spending more.

Travelers from the mainland increased their travel spending by 21 percent to $43.7 billion during the same time, as the Chinese yuan has recently been on a small but steady appreciation against the dollar and the euro.