Shanghai’s tourism revenue edged up a marginal 0.3% y-o-y to total RMB341.596 billion in 2014. Domestic tourism revenue fell 0.6% y-o-y to RMB295 billion while foreign exchange revenue grew 6.8% y-o-y to US$5.705 billion in 2014.
Domestic arrivals to the city increased 3.2% y-o-y to 268 million, and international arrivals were up 4.5% y-o-y to 7.913 million. Of inbound arrivals, 6.396 million were overnight stays, up 4.2% y-o-y, and outbound travel on tour groups increased just 0.28% to 2.3408 million trips.
Shanghai anticipates 8 million international arrivals and 270 million domestic arrivals in 2015, generating RMB350 billion in tourism revenue, of which US$5.8 billion will be foreign exchange revenue.
“The 4.5% growth in inbound number last year was a major highlight for Shanghai,” a tourism industry observer said. This shows a rebound of inbound tourism to Shanghai and China, and a sign of recovery after two years of lackluster performance.
He attributed the inbound rebound to the development of the domestic tourism industry promoting improvement of the environment, as well as the economic recovery of tourism source nations like Japan, Korea, the USA and Europe as they emerge from the global financial crisis.(Translation by David)
