Wealthy Gulf families increasingly travel to China for education and tech business tours

An increasing fascination with China's technology industry is altering travel habits among affluent families from the Gulf, who are now journeying to China for both educational and business reasons. In April, a family from the United Arab Emirates, consisting of four adults, three children, and a nanny, invested approximately 300,000 yuan (US$44,228) for a week-long educational and business trip to China. Lilian Liu, from UFOX Travel, a tour operator concentrating on the Middle East, remarked that such clientele were virtually nonexistent a few years back. Previously, her company primarily arranged trips for Chinese entrepreneurs to Dubai and Abu Dhabi, focusing on real estate, free trade zones, and energy initiatives. The trend became evident last winter when she welcomed over 40 students from a private Abu Dhabi high school, many from middle- to upper-class families.