Chinese holidaymakers may give the impression that they favor package tours, but most of the country’s young travelers prefer to organize their own itineraries, a recent industry report shows. The report, by Qyer.com, which offers budget travel plans and information on cheap flights and hotels, said more than 70% of outbound tourists last year were independent travelers, meaning they planned and booked their trips themselves instead of joining tour groups. Of last year’s 109 million out-bound trips, 77 million were made by independent travelers – about 20% more than 2013’s 64 million. The rapid rise in travel information on the internet and more convenient online procedures to book flights, accommodation and procure travel documents were the main reasons for the growth in do-it-yourself travel, said the report that analyzed the agency’s client database. Asia was the favorite destination for 55% of independent travelers, followed by Europe (29%) and North America (10%). Women were much more interested in overseas travel, accounting for nearly 62% of outbound travelers last year, the China Daily reports. According to figures from the China Tourism Academy, each mainland tourist spent an average of CNY8,173 abroad last year, slightly less than the CNY8,298 in 2013. Their biggest expenditures were transport and shopping.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said it planned to reject a proposal by Qantas and China Eastern to more closely coordinate their operations, saying it will harm competition. The airlines already have a code-sharing agreement and last year proposed a joint venture to better coordinate scheduling and pricing. But with the two carriers accounting for more than 80% of capacity on the key Sydney-Shanghai route, which makes up nearly a quarter of all direct Australia to China flights, the regulator said it would “likely result in significant public detriment.” “The ACCC understands Qantas’ desire to form an alliance with a Chinese airline to establish a gateway to Northeast Asia,” ACCC Chairman Rod Sims said in a statement. “However, the ACCC’s concern is that they have chosen to do so with their main competitor on the one route between Australia and China on which Qantas operates direct flights.” Under its plan, Qantas would have a presence at China Eastern’s terminal in Shanghai, improving convenience for its passengers transferring to other flights. In turn, China Eastern would have better sales opportunities in Australia. The ACCC was seeking submissions from interested parties regarding the draft determination before a final decision was made. Air China and Air New Zealand also announced they planned to work together on a new Beijing-Auckland route, subject to regulatory approval, the Shanghai Daily reports.

Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the Netherlands said his country will actively respond to China’s “One Belt, One Road” initiative to improve trade connections between Asia and Europe. Rutte made his second visit in two years to China to attend the Bo’ao Forum in Hainan province. Environment Minister Wilma Mansveld and leaders of about 70 companies accompanied the Prime Minister.

Sri Lankan President’s Maithripala Sirisena visited China and met his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in an effort to improve relations between the two countries. Ever since Sirisena came to power defeating Mahinda Rajapaksa in January’s presidential elections, Beijing has had to deal with a series of setbacks as Chinese-backed projects have come under scrutiny for their links to Rajapaksa. A USD1.4 billion reclamation project, in particular, has been put on hold, driving a wedge between China and Sri Lanka. The island country is an important component of Xi Jinping’s “New Silk Road” strategy.

Automotive

• Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co will invest GBP250 million to build a new facility for the London Taxi Co in Coventry, United Kingdom. The 85,000-square-meter site, which is close to the company’s existing factory, will house all of the company’s research, development and assembly operations. The plant will eventually have the capacity to assemble up to 36,000 vehicles a year.
• Tesla Motors Founder Elon Musk said his company plans to “localize production” of electric cars in China over the next three years. U.S.-based Tesla began delivering imported cars to Chinese buyers last year, but Musk admitted sales had fallen short of expectations and blamed “speculators”. “China is the only place on earth that we have excess inventory,” he said.

Finance

• ICBC Canada (ICBK), a yuan clearing bank, has been officially launched in Toronto, becoming the first yuan trading hub in the Western hemisphere. Canadian Finance Minister Joe Oliver and Chinese Ambassador to Canada, Luo Zhaohui, inaugurated the trading hub. Lower transaction costs will make it easier for Canadian firms to trade with and do business in China. China-Canada trade is now worth CAD78 billion. The ICBK will take over yuan clearing services when transactions in Beijing and Singapore are closed, said ICBC Vice President Gu Shu.
• China Life Insurance reported a 30% rise in annual net profit, lifted by gains on its investments in China’s booming stock markets. Net profit for 2014 rose to CNY32.2 billion from CNY24.77 billion in 2013. Chinese insurers can book gains in their investment portfolios as profits, making their quarterly net profit figures volatile, and inaccurate, indicators of underlying growth.
• The London Stock Exchange (LSE) launched a product allowing small investors exposure to Chinese bond markets in the local currency. The new exchange-traded fund is the first to offer both institutional and retail investors exposure to money market instruments that invest in the China Interbank Bond Market via Germany’s Commerzbank and China’s CCB International. The fund is known as Commerzbank CCBI RQFII Money Market UCITS ETF.
• Shanghai-based conglomerate Fosun International posted CNY6.85 billion in profits for 2014, up 24% year-on-year. Revenues hit CNY61.7 billion. Fosun’s insurance business contributed greatly to revenues last year, becoming the largest earner among financial services, replacing asset management. Profits from the insurance business jumped by 57% to CNY2 billion.
• Bank of China (BOC) posted CNY169.6 billion in profits for 2014, an increase of about 8%. Its non-performing loan (NPL) ratio hit 1.18% at the end of December, an increase of 11 basis points from September. Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) reported a significant uptick in bad debt in the last three months of 2014. Its NPL ratio hit 1.52% with the sector average for commercial banks at the end of the year at 1.29%.
• Shenyang-based Shengjing Bank, the latest Chinese lender to list in Hong Kong, said profits grew by 11% in 2014 to CNY5.4 billion. Non-performing loans (NPLs) fell slightly over the year to 0.44% of total loans, running counter to the industry trend of increasing bad debt.
• China plans to gradually open up its futures market to overseas investors through free trade zones (FTZs), but no decision has been made yet on allowing the London Metal Exchange to set up a warehouse in the country, according to Zhou Lichao, Director of the Department of Futures Supervision of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC). The ban on overseas commodity exchanges setting up warehouses in China was issued by the CSRC in 2008.
• The private Wenzhou Minshang Bank has opened for business in Fujian province. The bank granted its first loan of CNY300,000 to Jiangda Electronic Co, a small electronics and aluminum foil producer. The bank’s main sponsors are electronic equipment producer Chint Group and industrial chemical maker Huafon Group. It is among the first three private banks approved by the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) in July.
• Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) posted its first quarterly decline in profit since 2009 as provisions for bad loans more than doubled. Net income slipped 3.1% to CNY55.3 billion in the fourth quarter of last year from a year earlier. ICBC joined Agricultural Bank of China (ABC) and Bank of China (BOC) in reducing its dividend payout ratio for 2014.

IPR protection

• An institute for intellectual property management was established at the School of Management at Zhejiang University on March 23. It is the first time one of China’s top business schools established an institute specializing in IP management education, training and research.
• The Supreme People’s Court (SPC) set up a judicial protection research center for intellectual property rights on March 18. Zhou Qiang, President of the Court, said that the center will research major IP judicial issues including those internet-related and offer suggestions for IP laws, judicial interpretation and policies.
• Courts in China reached verdicts in the first hearings of 10,803 IP criminal cases, 94,501 civil cases and 4,887 administrative cases in 2014.
• Huawei Technologies overtook Panasonic to become the largest international patent applicant in 2014, with 3,442 published filings through the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), according to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Qualcomm from the United States ranked second and Chinese company ZTE took third place.

Macro-economy

• The HSBC Flash China Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) ended at an 11-month low of 49.2 in March, dropping below the demarcation line of 50 – which separates expansion from contraction – because of deteriorating demand at home and abroad, according to HSBC and research firm Markit. The February reading was 50.7.
• The Asian Development Bank (ADB) expects China’s economic growth to slow to 7.2% this year and 7% in 2016 as the Chinese government pursues a program of structural reforms and slower economic growth. China will account for 32% of global economic growth this year, compared with 16% for India, the bank said.
• Chief executive officers (CEOs) have less confidence in growth prospects for their businesses amid China’s economic restructuring, even as most of them continued to remain bullish on the size and strength of the Chinese economy, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), based on responses from 136 CEOs in China conducted from October to December 2014. 36% of the respondents remained “very confident” on their company’s growth prospects in the next 12 months, down 11 percentage points from the previous year.
• The total wealth held by China’s moderately wealthy – households with financial assets of between USD100,000 to USD2 million – will be double that of their American counterparts in 2020, according to an Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) report. The report, which measured the trend in 32 countries, says this group – which it calls “the new wealth builders” (NWBs) – is the world’s fastest growing wealth segment. China occupied second place in last year’s report.
• Citic, China’s largest state-backed conglomerate, posted a 17.8% drop in net profit for last year on the back of a HKD13.7 billion asset impairment charge on its much delayed and costly iron ore mining project in Australia. Net profit was HKD39.8 billion last year, compared to HKD48.4 billion in 2013. Excluding the non-cash impairment, profit rose 10%, mainly due to profit growth of its financial services businesses. Revenue fell 1.9% to HKD402.12 billion.
• China’s economic growth may have decelerated in the first quarter of 2015, two private surveys indicated. The HSBC flash purchasing managers index (PMI) of China’s manufacturing sector slumped to an 11-month low of 49.2 in March from the final reading of 50.7 in the previous month, as new orders contracted while employment fell to the lowest since September 2014.The China Beige Book survey by New York-based CBB International also showed that China’s economy underwent “an overall growth slowdown” in the first quarter.
• China will stop companies from developing new coal mines with a capacity under 300,000 tons a year, and offer financial support for coal firms that seek to exploit shale gas. Coal mines under a capacity of 90,000 tons a year will be gradually closed.
• China needed to be on alert for deflation, Governor Zhou Xiaochuan of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) warned, amid signs of slowing price rises.
• The Chinese government has published its action plan for building a Silk Road economic belt and a 21st century Maritime Silk Road. In promoting the initiative, China will follow the principle of “wide consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits”, President Xi Jinping said at the opening ceremony of the Boao Forum for Asia in Hainan province. Xi added that the development will be “open and inclusive, not exclusive”. More than 60 countries and international organizations have shown interest in taking part in the development of the “Belt and Road”.

Real estate

• Fujian has become China’s first province to relax local housing policies this year. Customers buying their second homes will be treated the same as first-time buyers, with the down payment for both groups lowered to 20% from 30% previously. Fujian’s move came after the cities of Jinan and Guangzhou cut the down payment for first-time home buyers to borrow from local housing provident funds.
• The Link Real Estate Investment Trust has made its first foray into the Chinese retail market with the purchase of a Beijing shopping mall for CNY2.5 billion. The Link Management, which manages Asia’s largest reit, announced it had bought the 800,000 sq ft EC Mall in the capital’s Zhongguancun area. Link said the rental income last month was CNY13 million.

Stock markets

• GF Securities, one of China’s largest brokerages, has started its roadshow for raising up to USD3.6 billion in a Hong Kong share sale, making it the biggest IPO so far this year. The Guangzhou-based broker is selling 1.48 billion new shares at an indicative price range between HKD15.65 and HKD18.85. Pricing of the shares is scheduled on March 31 and the shares will begin trading on April 10. GF is already listed on the Shenzhen stock market.
• China plans to raise the ceiling of cumulative investment in the domestic securities market for a single qualified foreign institutional investor (QFII), Guo Song, Director of the Capital Account Management Department at the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), said.

Travel

• Construction of a high-speed rail link between Winter Olympics bid cities Beijing and Zhangjiakou is being accelerated, with work expected to begin by June. The 174-kilometer line will cut the travel time between the two cities to less than an hour. There will be nine stations on the route, and construction is due to be completed within four-and-a-half years.
• China’s tourism industry will grow 7.5% this year, faster than the national economy, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), which groups the chief executives of around 100 of the world’s leading travel and tourism companies. Last year the sector contributed CNY5.81 trillion to China’s gross domestic product (GDP) and generated 66.1 million jobs. According to the latest official figures from the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA), tourism revenue hit CNY3.38 trillion in 2014.
• Hainan Airlines, China’s fourth-largest carrier, posted a net profit increase of 20% to CNY2.59 billion for 2014 and said it would buy 30 next-generation Boeing 787 planes for up to USD7.7 billion. The airline, which was operating 169 aircraft at the end of last year, reported a 14% traffic increase. Passenger load factor grew by 1 percentage point to 86.8%. Revenue from core business rose 4.7% to CNY32.4 billion, with an 11.92% growth in business outside mainland China. During the first half of this year, Hainan Airlines plans to launch four international routes to the U.S. and Europe, said Hu Yi, Director of the carrier’s Marketing Department.
• Shangri-La Asia said its China hotel business sank into the red last year but that there are encouraging signs of a turnaround this year. The company, operator of the Shangri-La, Kerry and Traders chain of hotels, said net profit for last year was USD180.9 million, down 53.9% on 2013. The group’s core profit however was up 36.1% to USD89.8 million, as the company managed to cut pre-opening expenses, and sales in Hong Kong and Singapore maintained healthy growth. The company’s total revenue increased 1.46% year-on-year to USD2.11 billion.
• Air China posted a 13.97% increase in net profit to CNY3.78 billion and proposed to appoint former Hong Kong Airport Director Stanley Hui as a Non-executive Director. Revenue increased 7.37% to CNY104.83 billion. Air China recorded traffic growth of 9% against a capacity increase of 10.2% in 2014. The passenger load factor fell 0.9 percentage point to 79.9%. Fuel cost, the largest single expense for airlines, rose 2.43% to CNY34.5 billion because of more flying hours even as the global oil price halved in the second half.