Tourism in China is a growing industry that is becoming a significant part of the Chinese economy. The rate of tourism has expanded over the last few decades since the beginning of reform and opening-up. The emergence of a newly rich middle class and an easing of restrictions on movement by the Chinese authorities are both fueling this travel boom. China has become one of world's largest outbound tourist markets. According to Euromonitor International, economic growth and higher incomes in nearby Asian countries will help China to become the world's number one tourist destination by 2030.^[1]

China ranked second in the world for travel and tourism's contribution to GDP in 2022 ($814.1 billion), and first in the world for travel and tourism's contribution to employment (66,086,000 jobs in 2014).^[2] Tourism, based on direct, indirect, and induced impact, accounted for 9.3 percent of China's GDP in 2013.^[3] In 2017, the total contributions of China's Travel and Tourism sector made up 11% of its GDP.^[4] In 2018, the domestic tourism sector contributed around US$1.47 trillion to the nation's GDP.^[5]

Since 2012, tourists from China have been the world's top spender in international tourism, leading global outbound travel. In 2016, the country accounted for 21% of the world's international tourism spending, or $261 billion.^[6] (The stats include journeys made to the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau, as well as Taiwan; in 2017, these accounted for 69.5m of the so-called "overseas" journeys.) As of 2018, only 7% of Chinese had a passport, so the "potential for further growth is staggering", according to a UK news report.^[7]

The first Chinese-operated travel agency, in China was founded by banker Chen Guangfu in 1923.^[8]: 89 Tourism began emerging as part of bourgeois lifestyle and a nascent industry during China's nationalist era.^[8]: 91

After the People's Republic of China was founded in 1949, tourism was not a contributing sector of the company's economy due to the PRC's political system and the political and economic blocks imposed on China by Western countries.^[8]: 91 China's tourism bureau was a government agency handled tourism matters viewed as important to China's foreign relations.^{[8]: 91–92} The state-owned tourism company China International Travel Service (CITS) as established in 1954.^[8]: 93 "International" in this context referred to diplomacy.^[8]: 93 The PRC's earliest tourists came from the Soviet Union and other socialist countries.^[9]: 117 In 1958, the Secretary-General of the State Council was placed in charge of CITS and its branches were transferred to local governments.^[8]: 92

Organized around diplomatic and political purposes, tourism in China provided tours such as the production study tour (shengchan guanmo tuan) or the industry and commerce study tour (gongshang kaocha tuan).^[8]: 92 Premier Zhou Enlai stated that the purpose of tourism was "to xuanchuan ourselves, understand others, wild influence, and gain sympathy".^[8]: 93 Through CITS, China provided travel service to overseas Chinese visiting China and tourists who might spread a positive image of China to their home countries.^[8]: 94

In 1964, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress approved the creation of the China Travel and Tourism Enterprise Administration (CTEA), which later became the China National Tourism Administration.^[8]: 94

In the early phases of the Cultural Revolution, international tourism came to a halt.^[9]: 117 In this period, Red Guards denounced China Travel Service and CITS for their foreign connections.^[9]: 117 The issue of tourism became less contentious again in 1970.^[9]: 117 At the 1971 National Tourism Work Conference, tourism was deemed an important part of China's foreign affairs work.^[9]: 117 Between 1971 and 1978, the number of foreigners admitted through CTEA increased by a factor of 20, and its earnings of foreign currency increased by a factor of nearly 120.^[9]: 117

In 1977, the National Tourism Planning forum stated that the mission of tourism was to earn foreign currency to fund the Four Modernizations.^[9]: 131 Beginning in 1978 and 1979, Deng Xiaoping promoted the development of tourism for purposes of economic development.^[8]: 97 As tourism became an important means of obtaining foreign currency for the government, China emphasized its exotic qualities to international tourists.^[9]: 18

By 1980, China's tourism business was booming.^[9]: 136 The expansion of domestic and international airline traffic and other tourist transportation facilities made travel more convenient. Over 250 cities and countries had been opened to foreign visitors by the mid-1980s. Travellers needed only valid visas or residence permits to visit 100 locations; the remaining locales required travel permits from public security departments. In 1985 approximately 1.4 million foreigners visited China, and nearly US$1.3 billion was earned from tourism.^[10]

In 2015, China was the fourth most visited country in the world, after France, United States, and Spain, with 56.9 million international tourists per year.^[11] In 2017, tourism contributed about CNY 8.77 trillion (US$1.45 trillion), 11.04% of the GDP, and contributed direct and indirect employment of up to 28.25 million people. There were 139.48 million inbound trips and five billion domestic trips.^[12][13]

In 2018, the Chinese hotel industry had a large pipeline of 2,500 new hotel projects.^[4]

China has become a major tourist destination following its reform and opening to the world in the late 1970s instigated by Deng Xiaoping. In 1978, China received about 230,000 international foreign tourists, mostly because of the severe limitations that the government placed on who was allowed to visit the country and who was not.^[14]

Data from 2016 showed that the majority of foreign visitors hailed from Asian countries with South Korea being the top source country for China inbound tourism. Among the number of tourist arrivals, a substantial 81.06 million are from Hong Kong, 23.5 million from Macau and 5.73 million coming from Taiwan. The number of foreigners visiting China in the same year, was 28.15 million.^[15]

In the same year, overnight visitors increased 4.2% over the same period of 2015 to 59.27 million (of which over 60% came from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan).^[3]

Visitor statistics

Most visitors arriving in China were from the following areas of residence or countries of nationality:^{[16][17][18][19]}

More information Nationality, Total ...

Nationality	2019	2018	2017	2016	2015	2014	2013
Hong Kong	80,500,736	79,368,424	79,795,890	81,059,391	79,448,100	76,131,700	76,884,
Macau	26,789,348	25,150,834	24,649,971	23,503,215	22,888,200	20,639,900	20,740,333
Myanmar	12,421,753	12,379,845	9,655,453	2,428,074	144,373	132,787	134,671
Vietnam	7,948,664	7,587,932	6,544,198	3,167,273	2,160,756	1,709,437	1,365,402
Taiwan	6,134,236	6,136,081	5,871,268	5,729,955	5,498,600	5,365,900	5,162,509
South Korea	4,346,567	4,191,790	3,854,869	4,762,163	4,444,389	4,181,700	3,968,998
Russia	2,722,571	2,414,301	2,344,646	1,975,910	1,582,279	2,045,800	2,186,281
Japan	2,676,334	2,689,662	2,680,033	2,587,440	2,497,657	2,717,600	2,877,533
United States	2,406,657	2,483,554	2,309,282	2,247,752	2,085,800	2,093,200	2,085,253
Mongolia	1,862,278	1,915,832	1,864,012	1,342,308	1,014,102	1,082,700	1,049,997
Malaysia	1,383,502	1,290,744	1,232,499	1,163,869	1,075,451	1,129,600	1,206,535
Philippines	1,177,668	1,202,966	1,160,875	1,134,749	1,004,008	967,900	996,672
Singapore	1,008,545	978,028	940,223	921,887	905,269	971,400	966,605
Thailand	870,526	832,605	775,747	749,020	641,483	613,100	651,654
India	869,570	708,517	818,954	799,134	730,490	709,900	676,682
Canada	776,328	849,941	805,026	740,788	679,800	667,100	684,216
Australia	734,511	751,865	733,663	673,248	637,300	672,100	723,088
Indonesia	724,784	708,517	680,841	632,913	544,762	566,900	605,321
Germany	622,198	643,074	634,053	622,668	623,374	662,600	649,298
United Kingdom	612,213	607,846	590,714	594,287	579,637	604,700	624,955
North Korea	555,028	250,654	229,467	209,521	188,337	184,400	206,617
France	490,963	499,160	493,712	503,480	486,935	517,000	533,538
Italy	279,474	277,776	279,686	266,793	246,145	253,100	251,162
Laos	278,469	305,200	230,925	83,603	26,136	21,697	19,399
Kazakhstan	211,577	195,081	222,946	225,406	241,478	343,600	393,530
Netherlands	192,338	196,183	193,960	199,464	181,789	180,400	188,562
Ukraine	182,399	180,725	171,766	160,439	141,706	118,082	121,938
Nepal	177,779	157,543	132,510	83,317	49,954	53,600	58,817
Spain	165,984	167,988	155,564	149,626	136,333	141,000	132,378
New Zealand	149,553	146,403	143,471	136,031	125,400	126,600	128,572
Pakistan	131,089	130,944	127,265	119,057	113,087	108,900	106,548
Brazil	127,631	118,828	105,189	93,316	85,487	94,559	95,754
Bangladesh	113,847	101,622	91,531	85,016	80,196	69,776	58,872
Cambodia	109,322	101,645	61,603	49,894	42,455	39,285	34,578
Iran	104,817	96,910	136,681	128,036	113,164	113,687	88,895
Sweden	103,600	109,991	111,758	115,216	118,362	142,000	159,951
Poland	98,987	95,338	90,511	83,942	74,823	76,135	71,598
Mexico	94,312	92,546	82,134	73,326	68,300	65,800	60,144
Israel	94,289	97,484	91,540	82,945	76,165	78,520	79,699
South Africa	85,606	83,621	74,940	66,703	65,451	68,230	68,613
Egypt	81,635	85,556	83,509	82,850	86,509	83,925	74,443
Turkey	77,748	74,409	75,451	79,092	99,538	106,163	103,947
Switzerland	70,468	73,931	72,096	72,556	72,675	79,500	80,557
Belgium	68,912	69,248	68,224	66,650	65,183	67,400	68,404
Austria	68,653	70,279	67,573	65,932	60,758	64,800	65,711
Denmark	67,240	70,023	70,239	71,588	70,873	77,556	81,385
Sri Lanka	61,983	63,043	63,039	60,328	58,059	50,000	49,488
Portugal	57,219	56,314	56,259	54,985	53,387	52,300	49,395
Finland	57,159	57,967	57,812	57,891	55,110	60,283	65,662
Romania	46,247	45,630	48,740	47,789	43,589	41,020	37,950
Uzbekistan	45,158	41,025	46,358	52,632	55,398	63,044	57,717
Greece	44,835	44,949	42,198	38,580	36,694	35,719	34,460
Ireland	44,351	44,002	41,953	42,353	41,600	42,046	41,229
Colombia	42,476	40,165	40,062	37,810	35,955	37,299	34,636
Nigeria	41,961	45,367	46,247	52,444	54,149	54,458	45,582
Kyrgyzstan	41,840	38,269	34,289	44,278	43,733	50,400	49,936
Serbia	41,002	35,384	27,559	19,155	14,038	12,560	11,441
Czech Republic	38,399	33,367	34,571	32,684	24,720	23,123	20,640
Norway	36,158	38,743	39,065	38,244	41,113	47,900	51,439
Belarus	33,883	24,745	19,154	17,255	13,904	15,575	14,347
Saudi Arabia	33,875	32,007	34,553	37,377	35,300	36,148	36,531
Argentina	30,598	34,229	35,132	32,422	28,407	24,427	26,488
Algeria	29,333	26,961	26,531	25,735	26,568	27,331	29,565
Jordan	27,983	28,309	29,615	30,885	26,540	27,668	28,151
Tajikistan	27,169	26,141	22,465	20,930	24,961	33,610	31,916
Total	65,730,000	62,900,000	60,740,000	59,270,000	56,890,000	55,620,000	55,690,000

Close

Foreign Arrivals in Beijing

More information Nationality ...

Nationality	2019	2018
United States	629,000	720,000
Hong Kong	322,000	348,000
Japan	247,000	249,000
South Korea	242,000	248,000
Taiwan	222,000	242,000
Germany	198,000	194,000
United Kingdom	153,000	159,000
Australia	141,000	150,000
Singapore	127,000	123,000
France	120,000	127,000
Canada	100,000	152,000
Russia	96,000	87,000
Malaysia	82,000	87,000
India	75,000	68,000
Italy	69,000	65,000
Thailand	57,000	75,000
Indonesia	45,000	50,000
Spain	45,000	48,000
Philippines	31,000	26,000
Switzerland	30,000	32,000
Mongolia	29,000	31,000
Sweden	27,000	30,000
New Zealand	22,000	20,000
Macau	18,000	16,000

Close

Some form of Chinese is virtually universal in China, with Mandarin as the standard form and many other varieties also in use; some, like Cantonese and Shanghainese, have tens of millions of speakers.

According to research completed by The Daily Telegraph in 2017, less than 1 percent of people (some 10 million) in China speak English conversationally.^[20]

Red tourism first developed in comparatively small villages around the mid-1990s.^[8]: 101 A significant rise in red tourism occurred in the late 1990s, prompted by the development of tourism as a significantly profitable economic sector and celebrations and commemorations related to the Communist Party's past becoming settled into tradition.^[8]: 100 The government promotes red tourism, which in its view strengthens revolutionary traditions, enhances patriotism, and promotes a unique national spirit.^[21]: 64

A form of agritourism called nongjia le (with the literal meaning, "joy of farmers' families") has been popular among urban Chinese people.^[8]: 177 This form of tourism is based on farm households where urban people can go for rustic farm fresh food and country-style lodging.^[8]: 177 It has provided a significant source of additional income for farming households.^[8]: 177

There is significant domestic tourism to Macau. Retail in Macau's tourist areas is generally targeted towards tourists from elsewhere in China.^[22]: 116 Because Macau benefits from favorable taxation rules, it is a favored location for Chinese tourists to purchase luxury goods like cosmetics, jewelry, and designer fashion goods.^[22]: 116

Tourist Attraction Rating Categories (Chinese: 旅游景区质量等级) is a rating system used by the Chinese authorities to determine the quality of the attraction relative to its peers in terms of safety, sanitation and transportation. It is divided into five categories which are A (or 1A, the lowest level), AA (2A), AAA (3A), AAAA (4A) and AAAAA (5A, the highest level).

The categories are awarded based on, amongst other factors, the importance of the site, transportation, tours as well as issues related to safety and sanitation. The system was established in 1999 and extended in 2004 (when the category AAAAA was introduced). The ratings are administered by the China National Tourism Administration^{[needs update]} (CNTA) and are based on the code "Categories and Rating Standard of Tourist Attractions".^[23]

This section does not cite any sources. (September 2021)

• Mount Lu, Jiujiang, Jiangxi, also called Mount Lu National Park
• Changbai Mountains, an important nature reserve home to the rare Siberian tiger
• Grand Canal of China
• Great Wall of China
• Silk Road, abandoned cities along this famous ancient trading route
• Huangshan, Anhui
• Mount Jiuhua, Anhui
• Mount Tianzhu, Anhui
• Forbidden City, Beijing, once the center of the 'Chinese imperial universe' and off-limits to the masses - now open to all
• Summer Palace, Beijing
• Temple of Heaven, Beijing
• Dazu Rock Carvings, Chongqing
• Three Gorges, Chongqing and Hubei
• Gulangyu Island, Fujian
• Mogao Caves, Dunhuang, Gansu these 1,000-year-old man-made caves on the old Silk Road contain some of China's most impressive Buddhist heritage
• Kuling town, Jiujiang, located on top of Mount Lu, a former summer resort for European settlers in southern China
• Li River, Guangxi, where boat trips are taken to see the contorted peaks that have been immortalized in Chinese scroll paintings
• Caohai Lake, Guizhou, where many experience being punted along this shallow lake to see many of China's varied birdlife
• Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival, Harbin, Heilongjiang, where extravagant and bizarre sculptures can be seen from life-size ice castles with rainbow lighting to fantastical snowy tableaux
• Yabuli Ski Resort, Heilongjiang, the country's largest ski resort where many Chinese take their skiing holiday
• Longmen Grottoes, a parade of Buddhist figurines and reliefs, near Luoyang, Henan
• Wudang Mountains, Hubei
• Old Yalu Bridge, Dandong, Liaoning, a half-demolished bridge to North Korea remains an important relic of the Korean War.
• Terracotta Army, Xi'an, Shaanxi, the former ancient capital, these 2,200-year-old life-size soldiers guard the tomb of China's first emperor.
• Confucius Mansion, Qufu, Shandong, home to nearly eighty generations of the great sage's clan
• Mount Tai (or Tai Shan), Shandong, a holy peak home to immaculate temples and pavilions
• The Bund, Shanghai, an elegant parade along the Huangpu River of colonial architecture juxtaposed with Shanghai's skyscrapers
• The Hanging Temple at Mount Heng, Shanxi is a temple clinging to a precipice and a series of grottoes containing a panoply of Buddhist statuary
• Yungang Grottoes, near Datong, Shanxi, a renowned Buddhist site
• Jiuzhaigou Valley, Sichuan
• Leshan Giant Buddha, Sichuan, the world's largest carved Buddha
• Mount Emei, Sichuan
• Mount Qingcheng, Sichuan
• Potala Palace, Lhasa, Tibet originally built by King Songtsän Gampo in 637 to greet his bride Princess Wencheng of the Tang dynasty
• Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan, home to one of China's most unique minorities - the Dai people
• West Lake, Hangzhou, Zhejiang

This section needs additional citations for verification. (September 2021)

Tourist resources in China can be divided into three main groups: natural sites, historical and cultural sites, and folk customs. China has 55 World Heritage Sites, the second largest in the world after Italy, which has 58.^[25]

The China National Tourism Administration promotes a tourist theme every year; 1992 was "Friendly Sightseeing Year." Then came "Landscape Tour", "Tour of Cultural Relics and Historical Sites", "Folk Customs Tour", "Holiday Tour", and "Ecological Environment Tour." From 2000 to 2004, the themes were "Century Year", "Sports and Health of China", "Folk Arts of China", and "Culinary Kingdom of China", and "Catch the Lifestyle."^{[citation needed]}

The themes for 2005 were "China Travel Year" and "Beijing 2008 -- Welcome to China." In order to strengthen exchange and cooperation with the international tourism industry, the China National Travel Administration is planning a series of related events, including the Shanghai-hosted "2005 International Tourism Fair of China", the Beijing-hosted 2005 annual meeting of the Federation of Travel Agencies of France, and "the 2005 China-Australia Tourism Symposium."

Since 2013, all regions in China have had tourism publicity events under the "Beautiful China" umbrella, but with a different theme for each area.^{[citation needed]} The year 2018 was declared as "Beautiful China – Year of Integrated Tourism" while 2017 was declared as "Beautiful China – Year of Silk Road Tourism".^[26]

The fast development of China's transportation infrastructure provides wide-ranging travel for domestic and overseas tourists. Throughout China many hotels and restaurants have been constructed, renovated or expanded to satisfy all levels of requirement, including many with five or six-star ratings.

China has regulated international travel agencies. On June 12, 2003, the China National Tourism Administration and the Ministry of Commerce jointly issued Interim Regulations on the Establishment of Foreign-funded or Wholly Foreign-owned Travel Agencies.

The Chinese online tourism market, including for outbound tourism, is concentrated in major online service providers including Ctrip, Feizhu, Mafengwo, and Dazhongdianping.^{[27]: 120–121}

• Tourism in Hong Kong
• Visa policy of China