Overseas visitor count soaring

Foreign tourists have accounted for a relatively large share of the city's steadily growing tourism market, which has maintained double-digit growth in the last two years.

In 2005, 1.02 million foreign tourists came to Hangzhou, while the figure grew to 1.24 million in 2006. By the end of November of this year, Hangzhou had welcomed 1.34 million foreign tourists.

In 2007, Hangzhou's tourism market saw a slight growth in the number of visitors from the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions and Taiwan Province, compared to 2006.

However, the number of tourists from Europe, North America and Australia has increased significantly. In 2005, the tourist count from Europe, North America and Australia increased 43.4, 35.2, and 34.6 percent respectively, while the increase rate in 2006 was 45.9, 26.2 and 66.4 percent. This upward trend is being maintained this year as well.

Statistics indicate that from January to November of 2007, Hangzhou accommodated 221,900 European travelers, an increase of 22.9 percent, along with 159,000 American and 37,300 Australian travelers.

The Asia market serves as the pillar of Hangzhou's tourism sector. Among Asian countries, South Korea and Japan have topped the list in terms of numbers for several years. From January to November this year, 390,500 tourists from South Korea visited the city, a 15.8-percent rise year-on-year, while Japanese travelers numbered 256,000, an increase of 16.5 percent compared to the same period last year.

Tourists from South Korea and Japan combined account for nearly 72.9 percent of the Asian tourists coming to Hangzhou, and 33.7 percent of foreign tourists.

The top 10 countries in terms of tourist inflow to Hangzhou in 2007 are South Korea, Japan, the United States, Malaysia, Thailand, Germany, Singapore, Spain, Australia and Canada.

(China Daily 01/02/2008 page15)