China’s inbound tourism maintained stable growth in 2014 as the numbers of overseas arrivals picked up and the previous dearth of arrivals from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan visitors eased, according to the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA).
Overseas arrivals went up 0.27% to 26.36 million while the drop in arrivals from the Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwanese visitor market narrowed to 0.63% to total 102 million. Overnight visitors number was also down by 0.11% to 55.62 million.
Meanwhile outbound tourism skyrocketed 19.49%, breaking the 100 million mark at 107 million trips in total. Domestic tourism also grew 10.67%, recording 3.611 billion trips. Total annual tourism revenues grew 14.7% to RMB3.38 trillion (approx: US$540 million), with international tourism revenues increased 10.16% to US$56.9 billion, according to CNTA deputy director Jiang Du.
“The global tourism industry is picking up as the worldwide economy gradually stabilizes, with a particularly rosy outlook for the Asia-Pacific region. China’s economic fundamentals continue to be positive and the government is committed to its tourism industry development policies. The national development strategies will provide new opportunities for further growth of inbound tourism as international air transport capacity continues to expand,” said Mr. Du.
“This is a key year for the tourism industry to reach the goals set in the 12th state ‘five-year development plan’, but the industry must revolutionize in order to make a significant breakthrough in 2015. China will have to forge a new national tourism image and improve the attractiveness of national tourism brands leveraging the promotional activities of the Silk Road Plan and the international tourism year promotions. At the same time it’s imperative that the industry shapes market consumption by introducing new highlight products to stimulate consumer activities,” Mr. Du said.(Translation by David)
