Tourism has become a strategic pillar industry for China’s national economy, contributing RMB 8.19 trillion (11.01%) to China’s GDP in 2016. Some 79.62 million people were directly or indirectly employed in the tourism sector during the year, accounting for 10.26% of the total employed population in China.
Tourism revenues in 2016 totaled RMB 4.69 trillion, an increase of 13.6% over the year before, according to the China Tourism Statistics Bulletin 2016 released by China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) on November 8.
Tourism in China has been booming in recent years, with marked growth in domestic tourism, inbound tourism and outbound tourism every year.
In 2016, 4.44 billion (+11%) domestic trips were made, generating revenues of RMB 3.94 trillion (+15.2%), accounting for 84% of the total tourism revenue. The number of inbound tourists reached 138 million, and RMB 794.94 billion tourism receipts was generated, an increase of 3.5% and 5.6% respectively. Some 122 million Chinese nationals traveled abroad and spent RMB 727.37 billion, up 4.3% and 5.1% respectively.
The growth rate in domestic tourism revenues, which had been slowing since 2012 to a low of 12.5% in 2015, bounced back in 2016 to 15.19%, from RMB 3.42 trillion in 2015 to RMB 3.94 trillion in 2016.
The number of domestic trips had been increasing from 2.957 billion in 2012 to 4.44 billion in 2016, with domestic travel continued to grow for three years in a row from 2013 to 2016, and the growth rate reached double-digit in 2014.
