China’s travelers made 40 million trips domestically last year, and inbound and outbound visitors exceeded 250 million during the year, according to Jin-zao Li, chairman of China National Tourism Administration (CNTA), who added that the tourism sector contributed more than 10% of the domestic economy and employments. 

As tourism has become the key driving fore for creating employments, entrepreneurship and export for most countries amid the weak recovery of the global economy, the enormous force of Chinese tourists with great spending power have naturally become sought-after targets for worldwide destinations.  

“China’s tourism development has given us a bigger say and more influence on the international market. There will be a strong lineup of major global tourism events held in China for the next three years, and we will leverage tourism for China's diplomatic strategy as well as global economy involvements," said Mr Li. 

CNTA will launch pilot schemes for relaxing the regulations on tour guides, allowing tour guides to operate independently, removing the requirement for guides to be appointed by a travel agency, enabling guides to operate in various ways, and establishing a reservation platform for tour guiding service. (Translation by Jerry)