China's wealthy middle class will drive the surge in outbound travel and represent 50 per cent of the global luxury market by 2020, according to a survey by CLSA.

Spurred by a continuously growing affluent middle class population, China's outbound Mainland tourist numbers are expected to double to 200 million by 2020, from the 100 million who left in 2013, with spending likely to triple at the same time, a recent report by brokerage and investment group CLSA shows. 

In a survey of 1,000 Chinese travellers from 41 cities, titled "Chinese Tourists -- Exploring New Frontiers," CLSA found that travel is one of the top aspirations for the so-called "billion boomer generation," with 64 per cent saying that they are interested in travelling overseas in the next 12 months. The key drivers include the $8,000 per-capita gross domestic product, as well as more annual leaves, visa relaxations, the worsening pollution in the Mainland and a nearly overloaded domestic tourism infrastructure. Sixty-four per cent said they intend to increase their travel budget. 

Hong Kong and Macau continue to be the top international destinations among the Chinese, but visitor numbers are estimated to drop from 62 per cent to 45 per cent as more holidaymakers seek exotic places. In 2012, the US and France received 1.5 million and 1.3 million Mainland Chinese visitors. CLSA expects travel numbers to hit 5.7 million to the US and 3.9 million to France by 2020.

"Explosive projected growth in outbound Greater China travel numbers offers immense opportunity for countries to benefit from Chinese tourists' desire for new experiences... Tourists will become increasingly savvy, independent and demand high quality experiences and service," said Aaron Fischer, head of consumer and gaming research, and the report's author.

Luxury goods will continue to be highly prized by tourists who make two-thirds of their purchases overseas. Spending by rich Chinese and lavish gift giving resulted in the global luxury goods sectors expanding 41 per cent between 2009 and 2012. Demand from Greater China also increased 135 per cent over this period, boosting their share of the market from 19 per cent in 2009 to 31 per cent in 2012. The report says this could rise further to 50 per cent by 2020 as middle-class Mainland Chinese drive the next wave of the luxury market growth.

With this rise, CLSA said to expect a significant impact on airlines, gaming, luxury goods, medical tourism, hotels, property and cruise ships as travel habits evolve. The Internet will also be a significant beneficiary as savvy travellers increasingly choose to travel independently.

By 2020, the report suggest that the number of provinces in China with per-capita GDP spending of more than $8,000 will increase from 10 in 2012 to 27 and the population of those provinces will rise from 0.5 billion to 1.2  billion.