China to Become World's Top Tour Site by 2020China is expected to become the No. 1 destination for tourists in the world by 2020, according to the World Tourism Organization (WTO).Xu Jing, a WTO official in charge of the Asia-Pacific Region, said here today China is facing good opportunities for the development of its tourism industry. The WTO predicts that by 2020, China will receive 137 million international tourists, or 31 percent of the total 438 million international visitors expected to tour the Asia-Pacific Region, Xu said. By 2020, global tourism income is expected to reach 2,000 billion US dollars, he said. In 1999, the number of the world's international travelers topped 663 million, 11 percent of them choosing China as their destination, according to WTO figures. Last year, China earned 14 billion US dollars from overseas tourists and earned a total of 400 billion yuan, WTO official said. |
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