 |
Number of Foreign Tourists to China Tops 10 Million
China received a total of over 83.48 million overseas travelers last year, an increase of 14.68 percent over 1999, including nearly 31.24 million overnight tourists, up 15.49 percent over the previous year, foreign travelers numbered over 10.19 million last year, a 20 percent rise over 1999, said He Guangwei, director of China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) at the ongoing "National Tourism Working Conference 2001" on Wednesday.
China's tourism revenue in 2000 topped 451.8 billion yuan (about US$56 Bn), an increase of 12.91 percent over 1999, with a total of US$ 16.231 billion in foreign exchange and over 31.75 billion yuan from domestic tourism, up 15 percent and 12.13 percent respectively over the year before.
While appraising the great economic achievements gained in China's tourist industry, He Guangwei pointed out: As a new economic growth point, China's tourist industry is entering into a new period of accelerated all-round development.
A new target for the year 2001 has been set by CNTA at the working conference. Generally, the CNTA expects to receive 90 million entry travelers including 11 million foreign tourists, to achieve foreign exchange earnings of US$ 18 billion. The number of domestic tourists is expected to reach 760 million to create 350 billion yuan of tourism earnings, adding up to a total tourism revenue of 500 billion yuan, an increase of 11 percent over the year 2000.
By PD Online staff member Li Yan
In This Section
|