China tourism continues to surge

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In the first six months of 2001, there has been a substantial rise in the number of Chinese travelling abroad, as well as Chinese inbound tourism, reported the Xinhua News Agency this week.

According to information from the National Tourism Administration, there were more than 42.8m visitors to China during the first six months of the year, a rise of 6.9%, representing a growth rate only slightly lower than 2000. In the same period tourism expenditure in China reached $8.5bn, an increase of 10.7%.

Growth in inbound tourism was particularly buoyant in the case of tourists from Macau, which posted growth of 34.2%, Taiwan (+15.9%), Thailand (+28.8%) and Korea (+19.0%). Many Macau visitors travel to the neighbouring city of Zhuhai in Guangdong province for shopping and short trips, bringing $700m in expenditure to the province, said the statement.