Wu Wenxue, deputy director of the China National Tourism Association, says China's outbound tourism is changing the business patterns of the world's tourism industry.
The outbound travel has become the fastest growing and most active part of China's travel market and the country's outbound tourists have increased by 2.8 times in the past five years.
12.13 million Chinese went to travel in foreign countries in 2001, while the number reached 34 million by 2006, an increase of 2.8-fold. In doing so, China has surpassed Japan and become the largest tourist exporting country in Asia.
In 2006, China added 15 new travel destinations for its citizens and the total overseas travel destinations for Chinese reached 132. It is estimated that China's outbound tourists will reach 37.4 million this year, an increase of 10% over that of last year and the figure will reach more than 50 million by 2015.
Despite the great growth, China's outbound travel market is still immature. This is mainly presented by the limited destination options in Asia chosen by Chinese tourists, concentrated travel periods mainly during the three Golden Week holidays, and poor behavior of Chinese tourists when visiting overseas areas.
