The Beijing University teacher is one of millions of Chinese travelers.

A Finnish traveler in Lijiang, Yunnan province declared, " I had no idea how buoyant China's tourism industry is! People travel almost everywhere during the holidays."

In 2001, China's flourishing tourism has provided great vitality to the growth of its economy.

Statistics show, tourism revenue has grown 12.7 percent annually in recent years, higher than the national average Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate of 7.4 percent. Tourism has become the new growth area for the domestic economy.

From January to October this year, overseas arrivals totaled 73.3 million and foreign currency earnings from tourism reached 14.82 billion U.S. dollars, up 5.66 and 9.28 percent respectively compared with the corresponding period last year.

The "holiday economy" has become the impetus for fast-growing tourism. Almost 200 million Chinese people traveled during the three seven-day vacations, with the collective spending coming to over 70 billion yuan. The three week-long holidays, including the National Day Holiday, the Spring Festival Holiday and May 1 Holiday, have also provided better business opportunities for catering, retail sales and entertainment, thus prompting domestic demand.

"The rapid growth of tourism not only indicates Chinese people like to move about, but also shows their confidence and optimism towards social development," says Wang Zhenmin, an economics professor with the People's University of China.

China has already formed a big tourism industry which keeps up with global trends. China's tourism has made remarkable progress in business organization, management skills, and the fostering of tourism markets, says an official with the China National Tourism Administration.

The latest figures show the fixed assets of the tourism industry reached 786.1 billion yuan, with 268,000 tourism businesses. There are now 8,993 travel agencies and over 33.35 million tourism employees in China.

When domestic travel boomed, foreign visitors flocked in to enjoy an oriental nation which combines a long history and a modern economy.

The varied tourist activities created by China's vast area have also attracted many foreigners. Experts from over 10 countries gathered in northeast China's Harbin to attend the International Skiing Forum in early December. Late last month, a collective wedding ceremony was held in south China's Hainan province, attracting couples from all over the world.

The development of China's tourism industry has not only brought a flow of people, but also a flow of capital, which helps raise foreign investors' confidence, says Francisco, a Spanish tour operator.

The sound performance of China's tourism is in sharp contrast to the sluggish international tourism, and has drawn worldwide attention, says Mike Walls, a representative in China with the World Tourism Organization.

In the past 15 days, promotion groups from South Africa, France, Austria, Finland and the State of Hawaii have all arrived in China, hoping to profit from the booming tourism in this populous nation.

Last year, over 10 million Chinese people went abroad, up 30 percent on the previous year.

"As Chinese people's income increases and the procedures of going-abroad are made easier, we can see more Chinese traveling overseas in the future," says Sun Luyi, deputy manager of China Travel Service.

(Xinhua News Agency December 11, 2001)