Company treats 6,400 to a holiday in France

China's largest single tour group to Europe - 6,400 people - arrived in Nice, France, on Saturday at the start of a four-day break.

Sales staff members and partners of Tiens Group Co, a Tianjin health products company, are celebrating the group's 20th anniversary.

On Saturday, French newspaper Le Monde quoted the country's Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius as saying that the Chinese group's visit to France "is extremely interesting, in terms of trade, the economy and culture".

The economic impact of the visit is estimated at between 13 and 20 million euros ($14.6 million to $22.4 million), according to Le Monde.

"Tourism is an industry that creates jobs that cannot be relocated, and I hope that the example of Li Jinyuan will be followed by many other major Chinese companies," Fabius said. Li Jinyuan, the chief executive officer of Tiens, was on the 2012 Forbes China list of billionaires.

Yu Hui, general manager of the Conference and Exhibition Department at Beijing Utour International Travel Service Co, which is providing tailor-made services for the large group, said about 30,000 overnight stays at 140 hotels in France have been booked for the visitors.

Two charter flights served the group, in addition to scheduled flights to Europe, with upmarket department store Galeries Lafayette in Paris staying open longer for the group, Yu said.

It is not the first time that a large corporate tour group of Chinese employees has traveled overseas.

Last year, Nu Skin, a health products company based in the United States, arranged for 10,000 salespeople from China to visit the United Arab Emirates.

According to an expert, the large groups from China show that Chinese meeting and incentive travel is moving from domestic to overseas destinations.

Companies usually choose well known or luxury destinations for their employees' shopping and sightseeing, she said.

Chinese were the biggest buyers of luxury goods worldwide last year, accounting for 46 percent of sales, valued at $106 billion.

Seventy-six percent of the Chinese purchases were made outside China, according to a report by luxury industry researcher China Fortune Character.

wangwen@chinadaily.com.cn