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China sees soaring number of overseas tourists
(Asia Pusle)
Updated: 2005-12-07 15:30 China has maintained a strong
momentum of growth in tourism industry with the number of inbound tourists and
foreign exchange income now 60 times and 100 times that of 1978, respectively.
According to Wang Jun, vice-president of the China Tourism Association, who
was attending an international meeting on the new Asia-Europe continental bridge
which opened in Xuzhou, east China's Jiangsu Province, on December 6, China
received 41.76 million overnight overseas tourists in 2004, generating foreign
exchange income of US$25.7 billion, ranking fourth and seventh in the world. T
At the same time, domestic tourists topped 1.1 billion, and the number of
outbound tourists was 28.85 million, making China the biggest source of tourists
in Asia.
According to a forecast from the World Tourism Organization (WTO), China will
become the world's biggest tourist destination and the fourth biggest tourist
source by 2020.
Wang noted that areas along the new Asia-Europe continental bridge have rich
resources of tourism and culture, boasting the basic condition for development
of a tourism zone.
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