Shanghai resident Song Min planned to travel overseas during the seven-day Golden Week vacation in May. But when he entered a travel agency's office, he found he was not the only one who had the idea. The agency was full of people interested in joining a tour abroad, and every other tour companies' offices were just as busy.
China's ever-growing outbound travel market has become one of Asia's largest sources of tourists according to the Pacific Asia Tourism Association (PATA). Based on the statistic result of China National Tourism Administration (CNTA), about 34.52 million Chinese people travel overseas last year and some 179 million Chinese went abroad for holiday during this year's Golden Week in May.
The forecast from the World Travel Fair 2007 predicts some 37.4 million Chinese will travel abroad this year, an increase of 10 percent over last year. The World Travel Organization also predicted in 2020, China will be the fourth largest tourist source nation and in 15 years, about 100 million Chinese tourists will travel abroad annually.
Asia is the top foreign traveling destination for Chinese tourists. In the first half of 2005, about 13.104 million people visited China's neighboring countries, which accounted for 90.4 percent of the total Chinese travelers traveled overseas.
The major reason for the increasing number of outbound travelers is China's growth domestic product (GDP) growth. Professor Wang Qiyan, director of the leisure economy research institute of the Renmin University, said when a country's average GDP exceeds US$3,000, it will experience a tourism boom. In 2006 Shanghai's average GDP reached US$7,490 so more than 2 million of locals made trips abroad that year.
China's increasing number of outbound travelers has attracted international travel organizations around the world to promote their products and services. By the end of 2006, 132 foreign countries and regions have opened travel markets to China. According to China National Tourism Administration, 19 overseas travel agencies have offices in China.
Three American states, Hawaii and Nevada have tourism counselors in China. Besides these states, California is a popular destination for Chinese travelers and Los Angeles has a travel office in China as well. According to Caroline Beteta, executive director of California Travel and Tourism Commission, China will most probably become the state's largest overseas tourist source market in 10 years. In European countries, the UK will attract at least 200 thousand Chinese tourists in 2010 and 500 thousand in 2020, said Sir Michael Lickiss, chairman of the British Tourist Authority.
China has three seven-day long national holidays during the Spring Festival, in May and October, which are regarded as Golden Weeks.
(chinadaily.com.cn May 10, 2007)
