A 2019 industry report released by China Tourism Academy on March 10 showed the tourism economy continued to maintain its rapid growth, with a total tourism revenue of 6.63 trillion yuan (0.95 trillion U.S. dollars) throughout the year, an 11 percent growth from 2018. 

Data from the report revealed that in 2019, domestic trips reached 6.06 billion, which was an increase of 8.4 percent compared to the same period from the previous year. Among them, 4.471 billion trips were made by urban residents while 1.535 billion trips were made by rural residents, which increased by 8.5 percent and 8.1 percent respectively over 2018.  

The total number of inbound and outbound trips reached 300 million, up 3.1 percent year on year in 2018.  

The comprehensive contribution of tourism to China's GDP was 10.94 trillion yuan, accounting for 11.05 percent of the total. China's tourism sector created 28.25 million direct jobs in 2019 while the direct and indirect jobs were 79.87 million, accounting for 10.31 percent total employment of the whole country.   

The report also mentioned that in 2019, inbound trips reached 145 million, up 2.9 percent from the same period in 2018. International tourism revenue reached 131.3 billion U.S. dollars, up 3.3 percent in the same period from the previous year.  

In addition, Chinese residents made 155 million outbound trips in 2019, which grew 3.3 percent year on year in 2018.

(Cover image via VCG)