B&R destinations more popular among Chinese tourists

According to CTA, the international inbound tourist revenue of the countries along the B&R reached 385.1 billion US dollars in total in 2017, among them 30.8 percent were contributed by visitors from the Chinese mainland.

China's outbound travel has become a driving factor of the local economy along the B&R, said He Jianmin, a professor at the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics. Official data showed that China has become the largest source of visitors to Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia, Russia, Cambodia and the Maldives.

"The biggest benefit of traveling is to promote communication among the people living along the routes," said He.

"People are closer to each other. Our local guides are also very interested in Chinese history and culture. One of our guides in Sri Lanka traveled to China last year," said Wang.