Hard times for tourism industry

The number of foreign visitors to China fell significantly in the first 10 months of the year, and the trend is set to continue next year, a senior tourism official said yesterday.

Speaking at an industry conference in Beijing, Shao Qiwei, head of the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA), said the number of foreign tourists staying overnight in China between January and October - a useful measure of inbound tourism - was down 1.9 percent on the same period of last year.

The trend was even more evident among the country's major foreign tourist markets, he said.