The lure of Bermuda has reached all the way to the Orient thanks to a recent article in a Chinese daily newspaper.

"You don't have to go to the ends of the earth to find somewhere without a Starbucks, a McDonald's or a megamall. Just head 600 miles east of South Carolina to Bermuda, where residents exist quite happily without fast-food chains, save one KFC," the article describes Bermuda and adds that perhaps it has something to do with the pink beaches, pastel-coloured houses or the incredibly clear blue water.

"But somehow, in this day of globalisation and homogenisation, this Island has managed to retain a charm and authenticity all its own."

The article goes on to describe Bermuda as a special place with beach experiences as good as ? if not better than ? its southern neighbours in the Caribbean, with swimming, snorkelling and scuba diving all "top notch".

In fact, according to the China Daily, Bermuda "oozes charm".

The timing of the article could not be better as studies show Chinese travellers are a market force to be reckoned with and that there are tremendous marketing opportunities to reach an ever-growing number of Chinese travellers.

Synovate, a leading global research firm, released a study on Chinese international travellers that delivers fresh, comprehensive information to marketers targeting this burgeoning group.

The study found that China is the single most powerful nation of travellers in the world, and it's all the more powerful because many travellers are so new to the pursuit.

Daisy Sim, research director of Synovate Hong Kong, said the smart marketer should be working to capture the Chinese imagination now and build brand loyalty in order to set up potentially explosive growth.

"Very few international hotels obtained overwhelming percentage of unaided awareness, so, for most hotel groups it's like starting on a clean slate. The earlier a hotel group seizes this opportunity to build awareness, the better for their bottom-line," she said.

The world is becoming increasingly available to Chinese travellers and after two decades of gradual development, the number of approved destination countries for international travel has increased to 90, 64 of which were added to the list since January this year.

Wayne Smith of the Bermuda Alliance for Tourism (BAT) said currently less than one percent of visitors to Bermuda were Asian and Japanese businessmen accounted for most of these.

However, he said Asia did have great potential and was definitely something worth looking into.