International visits into China are in major decline
Photo Credit: Approaching the Forbidden City in Beijing. Flickr / Trey Ratcliffe
Skift Take
Among the efforts China needs: coordinated tourism marketing to attract younger visitors, relaxing visa requirement in big way, and controlling its dreaded pollution which is generating scary headlines world over and dissuading visitors.
Much as attracting Chinese travelers is the number one issue in all of travel worldwide, inbound international tourists into China are, surprise surprise, in decline. That is according to official numbers for the first five months of 2013, released by China National Tourism Administration last month.
Inbound overnight international visitors totaled 22.93 million between Jan and May this year, down 4.06 percent compared to the same period in 2012. This is the third consecutive year these numbers have dropped, even though on a global basis, it is still the third largest inbound tourism market.
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