Chinese Travelers Are the World’s Biggest Spenders

China “continues to lead global outbound travel,” as per a recent report published by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).

Entitled “The UNWTO Tourism Highlights 2018 Edition”, the report observed that Chinese visitors in 2017 spent 258 billion U.S. dollars on international tourism, almost one fifth of the total tourism spending of the world.

As per the report, overseas tourist arrivals grew by 7 percent to 1,323 million in 2017 in general, the largest rise since 2010.

The increase in arrivals was echoed by a powerful growth in exports generated by tourism, which reached 1.6 trillion U.S. dollars in last year.

The UNWTO stated that the 2017 results were “driven by sustained travel demand for destinations across all world regions, including a firm recovery by those that have suffered from security challenges in recent years.”

Also, the organization showcased the way the financial recovery of economies such as Brazil and Russia benefited both advanced and emerging destinations.

France remained the most popular tourist destination as Spain moves into the second place. Japan moved into the top ten earners from tourism “after six straight years of double-digit growth.”

Available data for early 2018 has assured that international tourism continues to develop this year with a 6 percent year-on-year increase for the first four months of the year.