The European Grand Tour, Chinese Style

Travel Blog  •  Eva Holland  •  12.30.10 | 2:29 PM ET

The Economist takes note of a new variation on an old theme: a Chinese take on the classic “grand tour” of Europe. From the story:

China’s newly mobile middle classes like to visit established spots like the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre and Venice’s Grand Canal. But the visitors have also marked out a grand tour all of their own, shaped by China’s fast-developing consumer culture and by distinctive quirks of culture, history and politics. The result is jaw-dropping fame, back in China, for a list of places that some Europeans would struggle to pinpoint on a map: places like Trier, Metzingen, Verona, Luxembourg, Lucerne and the Swiss Alp known as Mount Titlis.

(Via @reidontravel)

Tags: Nation Branding, Tourism, Europe, News and Briefs

Eva Holland is co-editor of World Hum. She is a former associate editor at Up Here and Up Here Business magazines, and a contributor to Vela. She's based in Canada's Yukon territory.


2 Comments for The European Grand Tour, Chinese Style

Penny 01.03.11 | 3:39 PM ET

Culture affecting travel destinations isn’t something I’ve given much thought to, but it’s such an interesting idea. Any more information about this?

Austin Beeman 01.05.11 | 10:53 PM ET

It makes me think about what weird places I’ve gone too for my own person reasons.  I once spent an entire day in Paris visiting locations that had appeared in James Bond novels or movies.

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