China´s Travel Industry Poised to Make Significant Headway in Coming Years
China will go to new highs and the tourism in China will continue to develop. This is how China National Tourism Administration´s (CNTA) chairman He Guangwei describes tourism in China in his opening remark on China Tourism´s website.
"China tourism is expanding in scale, building up full service organizations and infrastructure. Tourism is becoming a new industry as a result of China´s open and reform policy and becoming a friendship bridge which strengthens ties between the people of different races in the world. China tourism will occupy more important position in the world. According to forecast of World Tourist Organization, by the year 2020, China will become the largest tourist destination and the fourth tourist generating country in the world," says Guangwei.
Chinese tourism industry has projected a continued increasing trend in the first half year 2005. According to CNTA, the number of inbound tourists totaled 48.4 million at the end of May 2005, the number of outbound tourists 12.3 million.
Chinese outbound tourism enjoyed a big increase in 2004. Last year, the number of Chinese outbound was 28.85 million, with a annual increase rate of 42.68 percent. In the first five months of 2005, the accumulative number of Chinese outbound tourists comes to 12.256 million. The increase rate is 9.72 percent relative to the first five months of 2004. But the rate will go down in 2005.
Certainly, in 2004 the substantial increment was mainly due to the recovery of tourism business after the SARS period and the strong growth of China economy. I presume the increase rate will remain at the level of 10-15 percent in terms of China current policy and economic circumstance.
China has been one of tourist-originating countries with a fastest development in the world. From 1998 to 2004, the average annual rate of outbound tourists soared 23.36 percent. And it is forecasted that the average annual rate will keep above 10 percent in the next ten years.
