Chinese travellers continue to set their sights overseas
South Korea was the third most visited country by Chinese travellers in 2011.BEIJING, July 17 — The predictions have been that China will by the end of this year become the world’s biggest source of outbound tourists — and so far the official figures suggest these predictions will soon be fact.
The China Tourism Academy has said it expects around 78 million Chinese will head off overseas this year, up from 70 million last year, which in turn was up from 57.4 million in 2010.
And, according to the country’s National Tourism Administration, that estimation looks to be pretty much on the money, with its latest report claiming 38 million Chinese travelled overseas in the first six months of 2012, up 18 per cent year on year.
Keen to cash in on this mass movement of people, more and more countries are making visa access easier for Chinese, with South Korea the latest to introduce a new visa policy, which will come on line next month.
Up until now, though, it has been China’s traditional markets that have benefited — and here’s a look at where China’s outbound travellers visited last year:
Outbound destinations for Chinese tourists, 2011
1. Hong Kong 28.32 million
2. Macau 19.77 million
3. South Korea 2.37 million
4. Taiwan 1.85 million
5, Malaysia 1.74 million
6. Japan 1.63 million
7. Thailand 1.52 million
8. United States 1.36 million
9. Vietnam 1.14 million
10. Singapore 1 million — AFP/Relaxnews
