Tourism is a significant industry in China .The tourism has greatly expanded in the last few decades with the beginning of reforms and opening. Grooming of newly rich middle class and by easing of restrictions on movement by the Chinese authorities are spreading this travel boom. China has become one of the world's most-watched and hottest inbound and outbound tourist markets.
By 2015, China is the fourth most visited country in the world, after France, United States, and Spain, with 56.9 million international tourists per year.
In 2017, tourism contributed about USD 1.35 trillion, 11.04% of the GDP, and contributed direct and indirect employment of up to 28.25 million people. There were 139.48 million inbound trips and five billion domestic trips. Data from 2016 indicated that the majority of China's foreign tourists came from Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. Among the number of tourist arrivals who stayed for at least a night, 27.72 million came from Hong Kong, 4.81 million from Macau and 5.09 million from Taiwan. When adjusted to exclude transfers from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, the number of tourist arrivals from foreign countries directly to China is 21.65 million.
China ranked second in the world for travel and tourism's contribution to GDP in 2014 ($943.1 billion), and first in the world for travel and tourism's contribution to employment (66,086,000 jobs in 2014). Tourism, based on direct, indirect, and induced impact, accounted for 9.3 percent of China's GDP in 2013.
Since 2012, tourists from China have been the world's top spender in international tourism, leading global outbound travel. In 2016, the country accounted for 21% of the world's international tourism spending, or $261 billion.
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