In the first ten months of 2005, inbound tourism to China kept growing fast, with inbound tourist arrivals totaling 100 million, a year-on-year increase of 11.57 percent, according to the latest statistics from the China National Tourism Administration.

The inbound overnight tourists number 39.07 million, an increase of 13.64 percent; the foreign tourists reached 16.96 million, increasing by 22.56 percent; international foreign exchange revenues totaled US$24.78 billion, an increase of 17.06 percent over the same period of the previous year.

Foreign tourists from all continents have seen a rapid growth over the same period of the previous year. Expect Japan, all the other 15 major tourist-generating countries have realized a 2-digit growth rate in travel to China.

In inbound travel, China has become the fastest growing and the most dynamic tourist destination country in the world. In 2004, the inbound tourism business of China gained full recovery in spite of the SARS crisis in 2003. The total annual tourist arrivals reached 109 million, 60 times over that of 1978.

The number of inbound overnight tourists was registered at 41.76 million and the tourism foreign exchange revenues amounted to US$25.7 billion, respectively ranking 4th and 7th in the world. China has been evaluated as the Best Tourist Destination 2004 in the world.

In domestic travel, China boasts the largest domestic market in the world. In 2004, the domestic tourists of China totaled 1.1 billion with domestic tourism revenues of 471.1 billion yuan or about US$56.7 billion, which takes up 67 percent of China's total tourism revenues.

In the golden tour week or the Oct. 1 National Day holiday this year, domestic tourists reached 111 million and generated revenues of 46.3 billion yuan or about US$5.7 billion, increasing by 10.5 percent and 16.6 percent respectively over the same period of last year.

The prosperity of domestic tourism gives rise to domestic demand and spending and stimulates the development of related industries.

(Xinhua News Agency November 24, 2005)