China has released the results of the national tour operators survey for Q3 2015. Results of the survey were collated with data from the tourism bureaus in China’s provinces, SARs and directly administered municipalities in accordance with the Tourism Statistics Survey System endorsed by the China National Tourism Administration and National Bureau of Statistics.

The report shows that there are 27,399 tour operators in China in the third quarter of 2015, and 25,929 or 94.63% of them participated in the survey.

Inbound tourism

In Q3 2015, the total number of inbound trips (organized by operators and commissioned by third-parties) handled by Chinese tour agencies totaled 5.4814 million, down 7.56% from the same period last year. The visitors stayed a total of 17.8644 million days, down 13.3% y-o-y. The number of inbound trips organized by tour operators totaled 3.7417 million, down 8.33%, and those visitors stayed a total of 16.4246 million days, a decline of 11.91%.

The top 10 inbound tourism source countries for China in Q3 were: Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, Macau, the USA, Russia, Singapore, Japan, Malaysia and Thailand.

The top 10 source markets of inbound visitors in Q3 2015

Domestic tourism

China’s tour operators organized 42.0267 million domestic trips in tours in Q3 2015, up 0.19%, and the visitors stayed 139.8666 million days, up 1.23%. The total number of domestic trips in Q3 was 47.5869 million, up 1.41%, and the total duration of stays increased 8.18% from the saem time last year to 125.4125 million days.

The top 10 regions with the highest volume of organized domestic travel for the period were: Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong, Shanghai, Chongqing, Hubei, Hunan, Fujian and Beijing.

The top 10 regions of organized domestic travel in Q3 2015

The top 10 regions for receiving domestic visitors in Q3 were: Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Shandong, Guangdong, Fujian, Hubei, Yunnan, Hunan, Anhui and Chongqing.

The top 10 regions for receiving domestic visitors in Q3 2015

Outbound tourism

China’s tour operators organized 13.0927 million outbound trips in Q3 2015, up 11.31%, and the visitors stayed a total of 70.139 million days, up 10%.

The top 10 outbound destinations for organized travel in Q3 were: Thailand, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Macau, Singapore, France, Italy and Vietnam.

The top 10 outbound tourism destinations for organized travel in Q3 2015

Market share breakdown

Based on the data of organized inbound travel, organized domestic travel and organized outbound travel, the tourism market share of inbound, domestic and outbound tourism in Q3 was 6%, 72% and 22% respectively.

The breakdown of tourism sectors (by trips) Q3 2015

In terms of number of days, the division of organized inbound travel, organized domestic travel and organized outbound travel in Q3 2015 was 7%, 62% and 31%.

The breakdown of tourism sectors (by days) in Q3 2015