China continues to retain its standing at the world's second largest collector of tourism revenue, with earnings reaching $5.34 trillion for 2018. In a recent report by the World Tourism Cities Federation, it was revealed that it has held this position for the seventh consecutive years, second to the United States. The study was conducted with the help of the Tourism Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
This sustained tourism revenue growth was not without its share of fluctuations and challenges throughout the year, but it has managed to hold on. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the country's domestic tourism revenue steadily increased from 2013 to 2017 to reach CNY4.57 trillion. This is expected to rise even further in 2019 as the volume of tourists increases and their spending powers and per-capita consumption capacity strengthens.
In 2018, domestic and international tourist arrivals went up 5 percent to 12.1 billion. This rate is expected to figure at 5.5 percent in 2019. Additionally, tourism revenue could soon hit an amount that is equivalent to 6 percent of the global gross domestic product, or around $5.54 trillion. The other countries in the top five are Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom, all of which have been leading the list since 2012.
At present, only about 7 percent of Chinese citizens are passport owners and market observers believe that this could balloon to more than 400 million individuals by 2030. As people's spending power strengthens, the degree to which a traveler is becoming savvy about going out of the country is evolving. In the past, Chinese tourists just wanted to get out and buy something, but now their tastes are becoming more sophisticated and they are more willing to shell out for premium experiences.
In related news, Euromonitor International's Megatrends Shaping the Future of Travel report predicts that China will overtake Germany and the U.S. to be the world's largest source of tourists to other nations by the year 2030. It is also expected to be the biggest inbound market for tourism in the same year. China's domestic tourism industry produced some 4.7 billion tourist trips last year and this is likely to grow to a whopping 6.7 billion trips by 2030 as well. The other nations on the top five of outbound source markets for tourism are France and Hong Kong.
