Statistics released by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in February also shows that the total number of inbound and outbound tourists reached 291 million in 2018, demonstrating a solid 10.8 percent and 7.8 percent increase on a year-on-year bases. 150 million Chinese travelled abrouad in 2018, some 14.7 percent more than in the revious year. For many countries worldwide and especially for Asian countries like Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia China has become the biggest tourist source market.
It is suggested that the rapid development of the domestic tourism market is in major part due to the development of cultural resources. Museums, an important cultural resource, have become highly popular with Chinese travellers. By the end of 2018, over 5,000 existed in China, and almost 90 percent of them offer free admission to the public.
With speedy development of tourism, a more organized tourism environment is in high demand. Last year along, the respective authorities built and renovated about 30,000 restrooms in scenic areas in China. The ministry is also looking to strengthen management and supervision of hotels, restaurants, tour guides and other enterprises providing services to tourists to ensure their correspondence with the set standards.
China Enters Era of Mass Tourism
News in Asia
Over 5.5 billion domestic trips – this is how many times the Chinese travelled last year. It equals an average of four trips per person. The country’s minister of tourism and culture believes that China has entered a new era of mass tourism.