Tourism Day taps potential

A booming tourism industry in China will be a blessing, not only for China's economy, but also for the global economy as a whole.

China celebrated its first National Tourism Day on May 19, which demonstrates China's strong desire to tap the huge potential of its tourist market and is a concrete step toward expanding domestic consumption.

The move is particularly important at a time when China is seeking ways to effectively boost its long-depressed domestic demand to help extricate the country from its longtime dependence on investment and exports to fuel sustainable growth.

Along with its huge population and vast land with different geographical features, China also boasts a millenniums-old civilization in which numerous historical and cultural relics have been preserved from dozens of dynasties, which is conducive to the further development of its tourism industry.

In 2010, the country's total tourist revenues totaled 1.57 trillion yuan (169.5 billion euros), an increase of 21.7 percent year-on-year, according to the National Tourism Administration early in January.

The Pacific Asia Travel Association, one of the world's three main tourism organizations headquartered in Bangkok, capital of Thailand, estimated in April that China's inbound travel visits would be near 100 million in 2015 and domestic travel visits would be 3.3 billion.

By that time, it estimated, China would become the world's largest tourist destination. A report released earlier by the Boston Consulting Group predicts that China will surpass Japan to become the world's second-largest tourist market by holding 8 percent of the global tourist market share by 2013.

Undoubtedly, the increasing importance attached to the tourism industry from the State level will make China better prepared for the upcoming tourist boom. It is expected that the country's tourist facilities and service awareness, as well as its cultivation of more well-educated specialized tourist staff, will get a big boost following the establishment of the National Tourism Day and subsequent publicity and promotion activities throughout the country.

While spurring domestic tourist development, a flourishing domestic tourist market and increased tourist awareness among Chinese people, together with their swelling pockets, will also inspire more and more Chinese to travel abroad.

Statistics from the National Tourism Administration show that China's outbound visits in 2010 reached 54 million, with a per capita spending of $480 (337 euros), half of which was estimated to be spent on purchasing foreign commodities, mostly luxury ones.

Porsche, Louis Vuitton and French brandy, once regarded as symbols of bourgeois Western society not so long ago, are no longer strangers to many Chinese people today.

If Chinese tourists' spending can be harnessed domestically it will play an important role in boosting domestic consumption and driving sustainable growth.