China’s tourism industry is now entering a golden age of development, having achieved RMB1.12 trillion (approx: US$180 billion) in revenue in Q1 this year, an increase of 14.7% y-o-y, the deputy director of China National Tourism Administration Jiang Du said on May 26.
In Q1 2015, domestic tourism and outbound tourism recorded 1.22 billion trips and 60.21 million trips respectively, up 10.4% and 9.1% y-o-y respectively. Domestic tourism expenditure totaled RMB1.04 trillion (approx: US$168 billion) , an increase of 15.9%, and 5.3 percentage points higher than total retail expenditure in the same period.
Mr. Du said the next 20 to 35 years will be a golden age for the development of China’s tourism industry. Direct investment in China’s tourism industry totaled RMB705.3 billion (approx: US$114 billion) in 2014, a y-o-y increase of 32%, and this figure was RMB106.2 billion (approx: US$17 billion) in Q1, a y-o-y increase of 35%. Some 56% of the investment in tourism came from private capital.(Translation by David)
