China tourism revenue hits US$170 billion in 2008
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China’s tourism industry generated CNY1.16 trillion (US$169.5 billion) last year, up 5.8% year-on-year, Xinhua reported the country’s National Tourism Administration as saying.
The revenue includes CNY874.9 billion earned from domestic travellers and CNY283.9 billion from overseas tourists. The two figures for 2007 were CNY777.1 billion and CNY312.9 billion respectively, showing that while the domestic sector grew, international tourism dropped in 2008.
Last year China received 130 million inbound travellers, including those from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, down 1.4% from a year earlier, the report said.
The drop in the number of foreign tourists was even greater, falling 6.8% to 24.3 million. The number of inbound travellers staying longer than one night dropped 3.1% to 53.1 million.
The country’s outbound travel market however, continued to grow. Chinese tourists made 45.8 million outbound tours in 2008, up 11.9% from 2007. Xinhua reported that this was largely due to the appreciation of the yuan against many other currencies.
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