Travel & Tourism to see major resurgence due to Chinese travellers
The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), today shed light on the substantial resurgence of China’s Travel & Tourism sector.
According to WTTC’s latest Economic Impact Research, China’s Travel & Tourism sector is predicted to contribute $1.48TN to the national economy by the end of 2023, up over 150% from 2022, when the sector contributed $583BN to the economy.
Ten years from now, WTTC forecasts that the sector will contribute over $4TN to China’s economy, demonstrating remarkable growth, outpacing global CAGR by almost 2:1.
The global tourism body is also forecasting that the sector will support over 74MN jobs in China this year, up more than 18% from 2022. This is just 9% behind 2019 levels.
By 2033, WTTC predicts the sector will support more than 31MN additional jobs to reach almost 106MN in total – this represents almost one in seven jobs across China.
Global Appetite
WTTC’s recent A World in Motion report highlights the global appetite for holidays to China remains buoyant.
Search data for hotels and flights in December 2022 showed searches from the Americas had their sights set on China, with travellers from across Asia-Pacific also showing sustained interest in visits to China.
Travel Trends
Data from WTTC’s knowledge partner ForwardKeys reveals a 90% increase in outbound passengers from mainland China last year, reaching 3.6MN. Although this was far behind the 2019 peak of 47.9MN, it was a significant increase from the historic low of just 1.9MN outbound passengers in 2021.
Year-to-date data shows that 2023 has witnessed a phenomenal 506% increase in outbound passenger numbers already, to reach 22.1MN between January and August.
Inbound passenger data shows a similar trend.
Last year, inbound passenger numbers to China reached 3.3MN, an increase of 89% from the year before. The year-to-date data shows inbound passenger numbers have grown 556% to reach 21.9MN between January and August this year.
