Carmakers in China should consider making their vehicles more connected, as the vast majority of customers in the country have shown enthusiasm for the function, according to market researcher JD Power. The findings, based on a poll of more than 1,500 people nationwide, showed that 91% of respondents would choose internet-connected cars when considering their next purchase. More than 50% said they were willing to pay 20% more for connected cars.

According to the survey, the connectivity-based functions that Chinese consumers value most are road safety monitoring, remote control, vehicle health monitoring, voice recognition and interactive entertainment. “Vehicles possessing these digital innovations, as well as bringing new driving and mobility experiences, are critical factors for automakers operating in China to consider to attract customers,” said Acy Min, a marketing professional at JD Power Asia Pacific Operations. Many carmakers offer connectivity functions in some models currently available on the market, allowing drivers to turn on air conditioning and start the engine before they even get into their cars.

Volkswagen to have all its models fully internet-connected by 2019. Some startups are making connectivity one of their key selling points from day one. Electric carmaker Nio’s ES8 SUV can automatically close the windows when it rains and turn on its air purifier system based on onboard air quality conditions. Chinese consumers are also very open to autonomous driving, according to the JD Power survey, as reported by the China Daily.

Several Chinese provinces have lowered their GDP growth targets for this year after China’s President Xi Jinping stressed that local governments should be aiming for sustainable economic growth rather than just chasing higher figures. Among the 19 provinces and municipalities that have released their growth targets for 2018 as of January 25, 12 have lowered their goals, with figures for the other six unchanged. Only Shanxi province has set a higher growth target for this year.

Tianjin municipality set its GDP target at 5% in 2018, compared to last year’s 8%. The move comes after the Binhai New Area, the city’s economic zone touted as China’s future version of Manhattan, admitted this month that it had inflated its GDP figure by a third in 2016. After excluding the figures for companies that were registered but not operating in the area, Binhai’s GDP was only CNY665.4 billion in 2016, instead of the CNY1 trillion it previously stated. The city’s economy only grew 3.6% the following year – far off its target.

Inner Mongolia, another province that admitting cooking its books, lowered its GDP target for this year to about 6.5% from 7.5% in 2017. The regional government inflated industrial output figures by about 40% and fiscal revenues by 26% in 2016. It reported growth of only 4% last year. Bu Xiaolin, Governor of Inner Mongolia, said its government had to stop judging officials’ performance solely in terms of economic growth. “We can’t pursue growth for the sake of growth or investment for the sake of investment,” she said. President Xi Jinping wants to focus more on tackling pollution and alleviating poverty, rather than on the pace of economic expansion, the South China Morning Post reports.

Beijing and Shanghai both aim for growth of about 6.5% this year, unchanged from targets in 2017.

The Consular section of the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the Kingdom of Belgium will be relocated to a new location. The office was temporarily closed from 22nd to 26th January (Monday to Friday) and resumed service in the new office with effect from 29th January (Monday). The opening hours and telephone numbers remain unchanged.

New Office Address: 439 Avenue de Tervuren, 1150 Woluwe Saint-Pierre, Brussels

Chinese tourists are big spenders and with the numbers visiting Europe set to soar by nearly 70% over the next five years, their arrival is opening up opportunities for European companies. A total of 12.4 million Chinese, mostly in guided tour groups, came to Europe in 2017, according to the European Travel Commission (ETC). The Chinese Tourism Academy (CTA) is expecting the number to reach 20.8 million by 2022. “A few years ago, the Chinese came to Europe solely to do some shopping. Now, they’re increasingly keen to know the culture and the countryside,” Dai Bin, CTA President, said in Venice at the launch of the year of tourism between the European Union and China. “They want to have personal experiences and visit areas where they don’t see any other Chinese,” said Eduardo Santander, ETC’s Executive Director. “They like the cuisine, the music and the blue skies as most of them come from the coast, where pollution is extremely high,” Santander added.

China is the world’s biggest source market for tourists, with 129 million holiday makers traveling abroad a year, accounting for one-fifth of the total number of tourists globally. Furthermore, they spend more than twice the amount that American tourists do – USD261 billion in 2016 compared with USD123 billion. Small gestures can go a long way toward making tourists from China feel more at ease in Europe, said Jacopo Sertoli, head of Welcome Chinese, a body that awards certificates to tourism companies catering for Chinese customers. “You can make them very happy by offering them a glass of hot water,” he said, noting most Chinese families drink water at that temperature rather than cold.

Chinese language television stations and good Wi-Fi in hotel rooms are a good idea while payment methods favored by the Chinese, such as UnionPay, Alipay and WeChat Pay, are a must. CTA’s Dai said Europe should reduce the red tape for its Chinese visitors. “We hope Europe will make it easier for Chinese to get a visa,” he said. “In a number of eastern European countries, for example, it’s easy, but it’s very difficult in others. When Chinese tourists visit Europe, they want to visit several countries, not just one,” Dai said. China has already become more accommodating to foreign visitors. Most Europeans can stay in Beijing or Shanghai for 144 hours (6 days) without a visa.

According to ETC data, France is the No. 1 desired destination in Europe for Chinese tourists, with 61% of visitors hoping to go there, followed by Germany with 37% and Italy with 28%. Travel to eastern Europe is booming, not least because of the easier allocation of visas and the increased availability of cheap flights, the Shanghai Daily reports.

Mr. Jochum Haakma, Chairman of the EU-China Business Association (EUCBA) and Ms. Gwenn Sonck, Executive Director of EUCBA and of the Flanders-China Chamber of Commerce (FCCC) participated in the opening ceremony for the EU-China Tourism Year.

Baidu, which bills itself as “China’s Google”, has leapfrogged Tesla, Uber and Apple in the global race to build self-driving cars, according to a study. The Beijing-based company, which has invested heavily in developing artificial intelligence and applications for autonomous driving, outranks the U.S. trio in a study conducted by Navigant Research, which recently released its 2018 leader board report on automated driving vehicles. In the annual report, the U.S.-based research company ranked 19 companies involved in developing self-driving cars, scoring them on 10 criteria, from the company’s technology and vision to its strategy to commercialize products and their quality. Based on the score, companies are divided into four categories.

Baidu was rated among “contenders” along with companies such as Toyota, Jaguar Land Rover and Hyundai Motor. The Chinese company had moved up from the “challengers” section, leaving Tesla, Uber and Apple to the lowest-ranked category. The traditional automotive giants General Motors, Volkswagen and Ford dominated the top tier, together with Google’s Waymo self-driving unit.

As part of China’s hand picked champions for artificial intelligence (AI), Baidu has been charged to develop autonomous driving. At the CES technology show in Las Vegas earlier this month, Baidu Chief Operating Officer Lu Qi said that China is closing the gap with the U.S. rapidly in AI, thanks to strong government support and the country’s huge population size, which are key factors in promoting the development of the technology, the South China Morning Post reports.