Investments in China’s tourism industry in 2015 totaled RMB1.0072 trillion, 42% higher than 2014, said Wenxue Wu, Deputy Director of China National Tourism Administration (CNTA), when releasing a report at China National Tourism Investment Symposium on May 15.

The report shows that there are 2,057 ongoing projects that involve more than RMB1 billion, and the investments pumped into these projects totaled RMB 630.5 billion, accounting for 62.6% of the total.

The report points out that private sector investments grew rapidly to RMB577.9 billion last year, accounting for 57.4% of the total investments. Eastern China was still the most popular region for tourism investments, having received RMB 514.94 billion in capital, an increase of 16.3%, and was equivalent to 51.1% of total investment. The profile of the investors shows big players from outside the industry were flocking in, among them Baidu, Alibaba Group and Tencent have so far pumped RMB 16 billion into tourism. The report also shows that consolidation in the sector is expected to speed up, evident by such major moves as Jin Jiang Hotels acquiring Plateno Group last October and Homeinns merging with BTG Hotels Group last December.

It is estimated that direct investment in tourism in 2016 will reach RMB1.25 trillion and the figure will be doubled to RMB 2 trillion by 2020.(Translated by Claire)