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Tourism

Chinese Travelers Set a New Record for Global Tourism Spending in 2016

Dan Peltier

Photo Credit: Chinese tourists, like those pictured here in Singapore, spent $261 billion on foreign trips in 2016. Skift / Dan Peltier

Skift Take

With less than five percent of Chinese travelers holding passports, last year's spending totals for international Chinese travelers represents only a fraction of the market's spending potential as millions more Chinese choose to travel abroad each year.

Chinese travelers venturing abroad spent $261 billion on foreign travel in 2016, a 12 percent increase over 2015, and that represents a new record for global outbound tourist spending. Chinese tourists spent more than any other country's outbound travelers last year and are already the largest outbound travel market with some 135 million Chinese traveling outside China last year, a six percent increase year-over-year, according to data released this week by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). China has been the largest outbou

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