Foreign tourists visit the Great Wall in Beijing. (Photo/Xinhua)

A report showed that China is expected to witness a tourist deficit of 100 million in the next five years, calling for the country to make visa application easier, thepaper.cn reported on Jan. 16.

China's current visa classification is traditional and conservative compared to those of Western countries, according to the report jointly released by the Center for China and Globalization (CCG), a Beijing-based think tank, and Ctrip, a Chinese travel service provider, suggesting the country carry out reforms on visa policies and improve visa application platforms to reduce the deficit.

Ctrip chairman Liang Jianzhang pointed out that the number of inbound arrivals is an important indicator for China’s tourism development, adding that inbound tourism must be boosted so that the country can gain a larger share of the international market.

Latest statistics from Ctrip indicate that Chinese people will make 400 million trips during the upcoming Spring Festival holiday, 7 million of which will be overseas trips.

The report also pointed out that China’s visa facilitation remains in the bottom six in the global rankings. It suggests innovating the visa system, building a self-service visa application platform, and improving visa facilitation to help reform visa policies.