The number of China’s domestic tourists increased by 13.5% to 2.537 billion in the first half of 2017, generating domestic tourism expenditure of RMB 2.17 trillion, up 15.8% YoY. The number of inbound tourists grew by 2.4% to 69.5 million in the same period, according to the Tourism Statistics Report in H1 2017 released by China National Tourism Administration（CNTA）on August 18.
Domestic tourism in China exceeds expectation
Of the 2.537 billion domestic tourists in H1 2017, the number of tourists from urban areas grew by 15.8% to 1.757 billion, and the number of tourists from rural areas increased by 8.5% to 780 million. Domestic tourism expenditure grew by 15.8% to RMB 2.17 trillion, RMB 1.71 trillion of which was spending by urban tourists, up 16.1%, and the remainder was spending by rural tourists, an increase of 14.8%.
Inbound tourism shows stable growth
Inbound tourism in China for the first half of 2017 grew relatively steadily, with 69.5 million visitors for the first half of 2017, an increase of 2.4%. Of which, 14.25 million were foreign visitors, an increase of 5.8%. Inbound tourism receipts totaled RMB 60.1 billion, up 4.3% from the same period last year.
Outbound tourism continues stable increase
CNTA also reported that outbound tourism from China saw an increase of 5.1% to 62.03 million tourists in the first half of 2017.
