Chinese nationals have become the largest number of foreign tourists visiting other countries in 2015 as the number of outbound visitors crossed 120 million, registering an 11 million increase from last year.
About 120 million Chinese travelled overseas in 2015, up from 109 million the previous year, data from the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) said. This was an increase of 19.5 per cent year-on-year and nearly 13 times the level in 1998, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
The increase in outbound tourists is attributed to more relaxed visa policies and rising disposable incomesChina National Tourism Administration
The rising number of Chinese tourists has made several countries, including India, to make efforts to attract visitors. Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced e-visas to Chinese tourists during his visit to China in May this year.
Chinese government tourism statistics say that Chinese outbound tourists had spent a record USD 164.8 billion overseas in 2014. Also, China’s booming domestic tourism market saw over 4 billion journeys in 2015, generating tourism revenue of over 4 trillion Yuan (USD 620 billion).
Compared to this, India, which is only next China in population, had only 15 million outbound tourists this year.
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