Mafengwo: 2017 Silk Road Tourism Big Data Report

Recently, Mafengwo, China's leading independent travel service platform, released the "2017 Silk Road Tourism Big Data Report", which comprehensively analyzed the tourism popularity and distribution of tourism resources in 64 overseas countries and regions along the "Belt and Road" based on indicators such as user search popularity, number of travel notes published, and number of reviews on the Mafengwo big data platform.

Feng Rao, head of Mafengwo Tourism Research Center, said that the Belt and Road Initiative has brought new opportunities to countries and regions along the route, and promoting the development of tourism industries along the route is the essence of the Belt and Road macro-strategy. Feng Rao said: "As a global tourism consumption guide for Chinese travelers, we, like all those who love traveling, expect and believe that the continued strengthening of exchanges and cooperation between countries will make free travel freer and travel better."

From the "2017 Silk Road Tourism Heat Map" released in the report, it can be seen that the Silk Road is rich in tourism and cultural resources, connecting a large number of popular tourist destinations that are loved by Chinese tourists.

In the past year, Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam have the highest tourism popularity, while India, Russia and Thailand have relatively abundant tourism resources. Among them, Southeast Asia has become a hot spot for tourism on the "Belt and Road", occupying all the top 7 seats in the tourism popularity ranking and 11 of the top 20, which shows its popularity. Thailand is in a leading position in both tourism popularity and tourism resources.

"Due to their close geographical location and unique exotic charm, Southeast Asian countries are often the first choice for Chinese travelers for short vacations." Feng Rao analyzed that most of the Southeast Asian countries have opened visa-free and on-arrival visas, and convenient visa conditions are also one of the important reasons for the rising popularity.

Among the top 20 countries, it is worth noting that Georgia, located on the edge of Europe, ranks 14th in terms of tourism popularity, despite having only 28 popular tourist attractions, far exceeding other countries with the same tourism resources. Georgia has rich and magnificent natural and cultural landscapes, including the capital Tbilisi, the Black Sea coastal tourist belt, Sukhumi, and Pitsunda, each with its own style. Some Mafengwo users call it "God's Back Garden."

Egypt is the only African country in the top 20. Mafengwo big data shows that on the Mafengwo platform, there are 1,801 travel notes about Egypt, 2,301,895 questions and answers, and 7,188,917 people participated in discussions about Egypt. "Ancient Egyptian ruins", "special markets" and "belly dance" have become the mainstream impressions of users on Egypt.

Europe occupies a prominent and important position in the construction of the "Belt and Road". The report shows that in the past year, Greece is the European country with the highest tourism popularity and the richest tourism resources. Mafengwo big data shows that "Acropolis", "Athena" and "Ancient Rome" are the keywords most mentioned by Chinese tourists, and the Greek guide has been downloaded more than 700,000 times. However, due to the frequent terrorist attacks recently, the popularity of European tourism has been greatly negatively affected. Among the top 20 popular countries, only two are European countries.

Asian countries occupy 17 of the top 20 popular tourist destinations. Russia has both natural scenery and unique culture, and its geographical location is relatively convenient, making it one of the ideal destinations for Chinese travelers. Sri Lanka and the Maldives are more popular among holidaymakers.