China surpassed the United States and other countries to become the world's largest international tourism consumer

China surpassed the United States and other countries to become the world's largest international tourism consumer. The United Nations World Tourism Organization issued a statement on the 4th, saying that China had surpassed the United States and other countries in 2012, becoming...

The United Nations World Tourism Organization issued a statement on the 4th, saying that China had surpassed the United States and other countries in 2012 and became the world's largest international tourism consumer.

The World Tourism Organization said that Chinese overseas tourism consumption reached US$102 billion in 2012, setting a historical record and an increase of 40% from the US$73 billion in overseas tourism consumption in 2011.

The statement pointed out that over the past 10 years, the development of China's international tourism market has been the fastest in the world and remains so today, thanks to the development of China's urbanization, the growth of disposable income and the relaxation of restrictions on international travel.

Between 2000 and 2012, the number of Chinese overseas tourists increased from 10 million to 83 million, and their tourism consumption increased nearly eight times. The World Tourism Organization pointed out that in terms of overseas tourism consumption, China ranked seventh in the world in 2005. Since then, it has successively surpassed Italy, Japan, France and the United Kingdom. In 2012, China surpassed Germany and the United States, which had long occupied the top two positions, and became the first in the world.

Secretary-General of the World Tourism Organization Ruifai said that emerging economies are still driving the growth of world tourism demand. The impressive growth of tourism consumption in China and Russia shows the vigorous growth of the middle class in both countries and will inevitably have a new impact on the global tourism pattern.

In addition to China, the tourism economy of several other emerging economic countries is also revitalizing. Russia's overseas tourism consumption reached US$43 billion in 2012, an increase of 32% over the previous year, ranking fifth in the world. Brazil failed to crack the top ten, but it ranked 12th with $22 billion, a significant improvement from 29th in 2005.

In terms of developed countries, the overseas tourism consumption of the United States and Germany increased by 6%, Canada increased by 7%, the United Kingdom increased by 4%, and Japan increased by 3%. However, overseas tourism consumption in some developed countries fell, such as France, which dropped by 6%, and Italy, which fell by 1%.

(Editor: Marcos)