Alipay has just introduced a version of its popular app designed specifically for international travelers to enjoy the ease of paying with their smartphones while visiting mainland China. And, no local mobile number or bank account is required.

Alipay, together with its local e-wallet partners in Asia, already serves more than 1.2 billion users with its widely adopted QR code payment services.

In China, users can also access services such as paying for taxis, hotel room bookings, and movie tickets, directly within the app. However, because access typically requires a local phone number and Chinese bank account, short-term international visitors previously could not use mobile payments in China.

How can foreigners now get an Alipay account?

To begin using the International Version of Alipay, visitors can download Alipay for iOS or Android and register with an overseas mobile phone number to access the “Tour Pass” mini program. Users need to submit proof of a valid Chinese tourist visa and passport.

So how do you top up your Alipay account?

Visitors in China can use their international debit or credit cards to load funds onto a prepaid card provided by the Bank of Shanghai within the “Tour Pass” mini program.

What about the remaining fund when you leave the country?

The minimum top-up for each card is RMB 100, with balance capped at RMB 2,000 ($285). The card is valid for 90 days, after which any remaining funds will be refunded automatically.

What can you use Alipay to pay for?

International travelers will be able to pay for shopping, dining, movie and attraction tickets, taxis and more when traveling in China.

According to a week-long informal poll conducted by Alipay on Twitter, about 220 out of 1240 respondents (18%) felt that the biggest annoyance when visiting China was not being able to pay with their mobile phones as the locals do.

More visitors are arriving in China every year as the country eases visa requirements to boost tourism.

In 2018, China received 30.5 million international visitors from overseas, an increase of 4.7 percent from the year before, according to government data. These tourists are also spending more, with expenditure on hotels, shopping, and food rising 5.1% to a total of US$73.1 billion last year.

China’s post-90s start personal finance management 10 years earlier than their parents

60.47 million people traveled to China in 2017, which was decreased by 0.4% year-on-year in H1 2018. Residents in Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan accounted for around 80% of the total. The mainland China generated US$32.6 billion from international inbound visitors in 2017, less than Hong Kong’s US$33.3 billion.

China has been the largest source market for outbound travel in terms of population and travel spending. By comparison, there are lots of rooms for the development of international tourism receipts – defined by WTO as the expenditure of international inbound visitors including their payments to national carriers for international transport.

There were 60.47 million people traveled to China in 2017, a much lower increase of 2% compared with 2016. The number of inbound tourists was decreased by 0.4% year-on-year in H1 2018.

Residents in Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan accounted for around 80% of the total inbound tourists. Except that, South Korea, Vietnam, Japan, Myanmar, and the US were the top four biggest source market for inbound travel.

Along with the sluggish growth in the number of inbound tourists, the international tourism receipts were also declined. The mainland China generated US$32.6 billion from international inbound visitors in 2017, less than Hong Kong’s US$33.3 billion.

It might be influenced by visa-free policy and scheduled flight number. For example, Hong Kong has signed visa-free agreements with over 150 countries and regions while mainland China had such agreement with only 20 countries and regions. Surrounding countries like Japan, Thailand, and South Korea were all several times higher than mainland China in visa-free agreements.

The overseas tourists might choose to travel across visa-free Asian countries. Comparative speaking, the 72-hour visa-free policy that several cities in mainland China provided was less attractive.

What’s worse, influenced by air traffic control, Chinese flights was one of the worst when it comes to punctuality. Therefore, China lost quite a lot of revenue from transfer tourists.

The inbound tourism only contributed 13% to China’s overall tourism revenue in 2017, which was 18% in 2016. The global average ratio between inbound tourism and outbound tourism was 27.3 vs. 72.7.

Considering there were 60.47 million inbound tourists, the per capita expenditure was US$537.4. That was only one half that of Japan, one-third that of Thailand, and around one-fifth that of the US. The figure was even lower than US$866 in 2012.

Revenue from visitor export was only increased by 0.6% in 2017, a large drop compared with 9.6% in 2016, according to WTTC. Furthermore, foreign exchange earning from tourism receipts only grew by 3%, much less than 6% in 2016.

The tourism deficit reached nearly US$225.4 billion in 2017, according to the report from UNWTO. The same figure was US$110.4 billion in H1 2018, according to CNTA.

Nevertheless, China had invested US$154.7 billion in tourism and the related industries in 2017. Such investment was only behind that of the US (US$176.3 billion). The investment in tourism was expected to grow at 6.5% annually in the next 10 years.

Thailand generated US$57 billion in the international tourism receipts in 2017, the biggest earner across Asia. That contributed 21.2% to GDP, directly and indirectly. China is the biggest tourist source for Thailand.

China golden week travel insights 2018; decline in flights & expenses

China’s domestic travel market reached 4.44 billion person-trips in 2016, an increase of 11% YoY. The corresponding revenues totaled 3.9 trillion yuan with a growth of 14% according to China National Tourism Administration.

Inbound travelers totaled 138 billion person-trips with an increase of 3.8% YoY, among which foreign travelers were 28.142 million person-trips with an increase of 8.3%. Outbound travelers totaled 122 million person-trips, up 4.3%.

The number of domestic tourists is estimated to grow by 10% to reach 4.88 billion. domestic tourism revenue will reach 4.4 trillion yuan, an increase of 12.5%.

The number of inbound tourists in China will reach 1.4 billion, up 3.5% year-on-year; the international tourism revenue will reach US $ 126 billion, up 5% YoY. And, outbound tourists will grow by 4% to 123 million.

Outbound Travelers in 2016

China’s outbound travelers totaled 122 million person-trips in 2016 with a total spend of US$109.8 billion, 56% of which were female and close to half are millennials. China has become the top inbound traveler source country for Thailand, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Russia, Maldives, and UK.

China’s outbound travelers represent less than 10% of the population; and, only about 10% of Chinese hold passports. China’s outbound tourism market still has huge potential.

Outbound travelers spent an average of US$900 in 2016. Though the number of outbound travelers accounted for only 3% of total travelers, the total spend accounted for 16% of total.

Top 10 outbound travel destinations by total spend: Thailand, Japan, South Korea, the U.S., Maldives, Indonesia, Singapore, Australia, Italy and Malaysia. And, the top 10 cities are Seoul, Bangkok, Tokyo, Osaka, Singapore, Chiang Mai, London, Moscow, New York, Rome, and Sydney.

about 40% of 122 million outbound travelers were organized by travel agencies; the rest are free and easy travelers.

In 2016, the top 20 outbound tourism source cities are Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Nanjing, Tianjin, Wuhan, Chongqing, Xi’an, Xiamen, Kunming, Qingdao, Changsha, Ningbo, Shenyang, Zhengzhou, Nanning, Dalian,

Thailand, South Korea, and Japan are the top three popular destinations with 8.77 million, 8.04 million, and 6 million visitors from China respectively. , respectively, 8 million 770 thousand, 8 million 40 thousand and about 6000000 mainland tourists to travel to these three countries. Go to Southeast Asia, South Asia, the fastest growing tourism, especially Vietnam, Philippines, the two countries to carry out the visa service to carry out the growth of 166%, 124%.

The top ten Chinese travel destinations with the fastest growing number of tourists are Vietnam, Philippines, India, the United Arab Emirates, Sri Lanka, Japan, Singapore, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and Canada.

Some countries and regions saw decreased number of Chinese tourists including Taiwan, France, Italy, Nepal, Switzerland, Turkey, and Greece.

The top ten popular islands for Chinese outbound tourists include Phuket, Bali, Jeju Island, Okinawa, Boracay, Maldives, Sabah, Nha Trang, Saipan, and Sri Lanka. The top 10 destinations for medical tourism are Japan, South Korea, the United States, China, Taiwan, Germany, Singapore, Malaysia, Switzerland, Thailand, India.

Chinese Cruise Market

China’s outbound cruise travelers exceeded 2.1 million person-trips in 2016, with an increase of 91% YoY; and, inbound cruise travelers reached 138.7 thousand person-trips, up 8% YoY.

Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan were the top three inbound tourism sources in January 2016 according to China National Tourism Administration.

Also read: China Travel Market Overview for Q4 2015

As of 31 December 2015, the number of travel agencies in China reached 27,621 according to China National Tourism Administration.

The top ten inbound traveler regions by the total number of person trips are Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Macau, the U.S., Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, Thailand and Russia.

China travel agencies organized a total number of 42.18 million person trips and received 45.29 million person trips in Q4 2015, an increase of 14.68% and 14.59% YoY.

Jiangsu (17%), Shanghai (9%), and Zhejiang (9%) are the top 3 travel destinations in China in Q4 2015.

Southeast Asia countries are among China’s most popular outbound tourism destinations, accounting for 27% of total person-trips in Q4 2015.

Also read: China Travel Insights for Chinese New Year 2016

China’s travel market reached a total number of of 4.12 billion person-trips in 2015 according to China National Tourism Administration. China’s domestic travel market exceeded 40 million person-trips contributing over 4 trillion yuan (US$0.61 trillion) for China.

120 million travelers traveled abroad in 2015. China ranked first globally in the number of travelers and total travel spend. Data of National Tourism Data Center showed that the travel market has created 10.2% of the total jobs in China.

Korea has been a popular outbound destination for China’s travelers. The total number of 6.11 million tourists traveled to Korea in 2015 which accounted for over 40% of Korea’s inbound travelers according to CCTV financial reports.

Over 70% China’s tourists traveled to Korea for shopping in 2015, 20% for experiencing Korean culture, and the other for plastic surgery and sightseeing according to Korea Tourism Organization. Chinese travelers spent an average of US$2,200 per person in Korea, much higher than foreign travelers’ average spend in 2015.

China’s consumers spent much time in duty-free shops. Each China’s traveler spent about 2,800 yuan (US$424.57) in Lotte according to the manager of Lotte duty-free shop in Korea. The consumption was predicted to increase by at least 10% at the end of 2015. China’s tourists brought in US$22 billion for Korea accounting for 1.6% of Korea’s GDP in terms of spend on accommodation, transport, shopping, and others.

To maintain China’s outbound travelers to Korea, the Korean government was considering to provide visa-free and a package of policies according to the president of Korea.

Also read: China Outbound Travelers Shopping Overview 2015

China’s outbound free & easy trip market reached 930 billion yuan (US$142.53 billion) with over 80 million person-trips in 2015. China’s domestic free & easy travel market totaled 3 trillion yuan (US$0.46 trillion) with 3.2 billion person-trips in 2015 according to Lvmama.

China’s strong growing free and easy trip travel market led to the increase of global tourism consumption. China’s free and easy trip market increased by 16.7% YoY, three times that of the global market in 2015.

China’s free and easy trip travelers are major resources of domestic and outbound travel market in 2015. 2.024 billion domestic trips and 61.9 million outbound trips were taken by China’s free and easy trip travelers. Outbound free and easy trip travelers took 65.1 million person-trips for China.

Free and easy travel has become one of the most important travel methods in China. Free and easy trip travelers made up 97.8%, 90.0%, and 66.7% of domestic travelers, inbound travelers, and outbound travelers respectively in H1 2015.

Although the number of domestic travelers with travel organizations rose by 7.8% YoY in H1 2015, it declined by 38.9% in the total number of domestic travelers. Outbound travelers through travel agencies increased by 35.2% YoY in H1 2015 while it increased by only 2.5% in overall outbound travelers.

The number of inbound travelers with travel organizations rose by only 1.4% YoY in H1 2015. Only about 20% to 30% travelers went sightseeing with travel agencies in 2015.

Domestic free and easy trip travelers spent 29.0% of overall consumption on shopping in 2015 and 19.5% on catering. China’s free and easy travelers spent an average of 67 yuan (US$10.27) per traveler per meal according to Lvmama.

China’s outbound free and easy trip tourists spent 55.8% total on shopping, 13.1% on transportation, 10.5% on dining, 9.7% on accommodation, and 3.6% on entertainment. They spent 203 yuan (US$31.11) per capita averagely on each meal.

Although China’s free and easy travelers traveled for “shopping” to some extent, they concerned more on destination and accommodation before trips.

China’s free & easy trip travelers tended to equip a strong consciousness of reserving hotels in advance in 2015. Domestic free and easy travelers reserved hotels 12 days in advance and outbound travelers reserved 42 days in advance in H1 2015.

Travelers became more reasonable towards various choices. China’s travelers would reserve hotels after comparing 14 hotels on average. 56.8% preferred to pay by cash in term of payment safety rather than payment in advance.

Self-driving has become a favorite travel method in China. There were estimated 150 million cars in China in 2015. 42% self-driving travelers made 5 to 7 trips per year and 32% made 8 to 10 trips according to Lvmama.

Travelers spent with 376 yuan (US$57.62) per person per day on average on each trip for short domestic self-driving trips and spent 3.2 days on average with 2,059.5 yuan (US$315.63) per person on long domestic trips. Outbound self-driving trip travelers spent 6.3 days with consumption of 2,857 yuan (US$437.85) per person on average.

United States (49.5%), Australia (16.4%), Germany (10.6%), New Zealand (9.3%), Canada (6.7%) were the most popular self-driving trip destinations in 2015. Self-driving travelers usually searched information on professional websites or forums for routes, travel guides, and attractions.

Free Wi-Fi has been a powerful tool to attract China’s travelers. 71.0% free and easy trip travelers used mobile map service under Wi-Fi to find places or routes; 16% shared photos with friends on WeChat Moments or Weibo; and 7% used Wi-Fi to communicate on social networks.

Free & easy trip travelers had a strong willingness for local adventure activities. 67% wanted to experience 1 or 2 local adventure activities and 24% wanted to participate in 3 to 4 activities.

The post-80s made up 46.2% free and easy trip travelers, the post-90s made up 26.5% and the post-70s 21.2%.

Top 10 most popular domestic destination cities for free and easy trip travelers were Shanghai, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Harbin, Guangzhou, Guilin, Beijing, Shenyang, Dalian, and Changchun.

Top 10 most popular outbound destination countries for free and easy trip travelers were Japan, US, Thailand, South Korea, France, New Zealand, Australia, Russia, Hong Kong, and Malaysia.

71% free and easy travelers hoped to get one-stop solutions and complete travel product purchases including hotels, air tickets, visas, cruises, car rental, insurance, local travel products and so on to improve the consumer experience and shorten travel decision time. Increasing travel products on online travel service providers could be a good solution.

Also read: China Outbound Cruise Travel Market Insight 2015

In recent years, with the penetration of online travel applications and improvement of people’s living standard, more and more people chose to travel on holidays. The total number of outbound and inbound tourists in China increased by 9.8% to 127 million in H1 2015 according to Mafengwo.cn.

Payment Method

Based on the research by Mafengwo, an online travel company, 43.2% of Chinese travelers preferred payment in advance while 56.8% preferred to pay at the hotel reception, considering the possible changes during travel and security problems of electronic payment.

Selection of Hotels

In the first half of 2015, Chinese tourists in general would choose a hotel after browsing 14 hotels at weekdays, more than 11 in 2014; and on weekends they would on average browse 18 hotels before selecting their favorite hotels, more than 13 in 2014. Apart from price and reviews, hotel style and comprehensive condition were core factors that would influence final decisions.

Pre-booking Days

Chinese domestic travelers on average booked hotels 12 days in advance, and booked outbound hotels 42 days before the trips, respectively an increase of 2 days and 5 days compared with 2014. PC users would reserve hotels earlier than uses in mobile end. PC orders would be made with an average of 32 days in advance, and the mobile orders with an average of 15 days in advance.

Refund Rate

72.02% of the hotel reservation cancelation were done by the female users, and only 27.98% by the male users.

Taiwan BnB

BnB (bed and breakfast) was one of the attractions of Taiwan. Taipei, with only 15.95% of total bookings in Taiwan, accounted for 63.96% BnB booking market. To attract more mainland tourists and increase the order of BnB, Taiwan needed to integrate resources further and strengthen the publicity and promotion.

Hot 5 Star Hotel Reservation Cities

In H1 2015, the top three cities that citizens preferred booking 5 star hotels were Hangzhou (a YoY increase of 287.67%), Fuzhou (226.67%), and Kunming (200%).

Hot Online Reservation Cities

Beijing was China’s most developed online hotel reservations city with one out of four booking hotels online. The top five cities that citizens preferred online booking were Beijing (23.96%), Shanghai (20.86%), Guangzhou (14.56%), Nanjing (7.51%), and Hangzhou (6.95%).

Hot 5 Star Hotels

The top 5 star hotels that Chinese tourists favored most were Marina Bay Sands Hotel in Singapore, Pai Island Resort and Racha Hotel in Thailand, L’Hotel Nina et Convention Centre in Hongkong, and AYANA Resort and Spa in Indonesia.

Also read: China Travel Market to Reach $617.4B in 2015

Under the great efforts of the government, China’s cross-border consumption would enter a period of rapid development. The cross-border e-commerce would double the growth targets in the next three years, according to the annual cross-border consumption index report released by Xinhua News Agency and Visa.

In 2014, the United States was the top cross-border online shopping importing country of China by transaction frequency among the 10 countries researched, followed by U.K. and Japan, which takes the place of Hong Kong.

For China, the United States also was China’s largest cross-border online shopping export country by transaction frequency; and the United Kingdom and Canada were the second and third respectively. South Korea, Germany and Hong Kong imported the lowest from China.

Also read: How Many Chinese Students Studying Overseas Compared with Others?

In H1 2015, the total number of outbound and inbound tourists in China reached 127 million, with an increase of 9.8% year over year according to China Tourism Academy. The number of inbound tourists reached 65.1 million, with a YoY increase of 4.5%, which exceeded outbound tourism (61.9 million visitors) by 3.2 million. After several years of sluggish, China’s inbound tourism was beginning to show a momentum of steady recovery.

While in the past nine quarters, the number of inbound tourists showed a downward trend, which was in obvious contrast with the thriving outbound market. Statistics show that since 2012, the number of China inbound tourists kept declining, with the decrease rate of 2.5%, 2.2% and 0.45% respectively each year, while the increase rates of outbound tourists were 16.7%, 18% and 16% respectively.

The increase of China inbound market was influenced by the recovery of the market in Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. In recent years, tourists from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan have always been the main source of tourists to the mainland, and the tourists number of the three regions was much higher than other foreign inbound tourists.

In 2014, nearly 130 million people came to China, among which Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan tourists in total accounted for 79.49%; and foreigners totaled 26,360,800 passengers. The top three inbound countries were South Korea, Japan, and the United States according to China Tourism Board.

To attract travelers from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan to the mainland, the tourism administration has made some efforts. From July 1, 2015, Taiwanese who hold a valid mainland entry permit could enjoy the visa-free policy.

Also read: China Tourists Travel Intention Study 2015

“In 2014, total direct investment in China travel industry exceeded RMB705.3 billion (US$114.94 billion), which settled 88.5 million people’s employment, representing 11% of total employment in China”, said by Shao Qiwei, the former head of China Tourism Administration. China’s travel market is expected to accept 6 billion person-trips by 2020.

China is poised to overtake the U.S. as the number one business travel market in the world in 2017 considering their current and estimated growth in business travel market.

After the earthquake in Wenchun, Sichun province in China in 2008, local residents’ income in travel industry in 2014 was over RMB11,260. Besides, folk custom tourism market in Beijing suburb accepted 19 million personal trips in 2014.

Travel is getting more and more popular. By 2020, urban and rural residents’ average trips will be 4.5 and there will be over 6 billion person-trips in China. Further, total consumption of tourism will exceed RMB5.5 trillion. By 2030, total consumption of tourism in China will be over RMB11 trillion.

Shao pointed out that the supply and demand of China travel products had been unbalanced. China travel market can not meet travelers’ demand in vacation. Travel products’ supply and demand for teenagers and the old is more serious.

In terms of travel equipment industry, the market can be categorized as large travel equipment, travel novelty and travel souvenir.  Now, China is making great efforts in large travel equipment industry.

Also read: China Inbound Travelers in 2014

According to data from China Tourism Academy, total revenue generated from China inbound tourism market reached $51.646 billion with an increase of 3.27% year on year, ranking 4th in the world, following America, France and Spain in 2013.

In 2013, top 10 countries by foreign travelers were South Korea, Japan, Russia, America, Vietnam, Malaysia, Mongolia, the Philippines, Singapore and Australia.

Also read: Chinese New Year Traveler Insights 2015

China Tourism Academy’s latest report shows total revenue generated from China inbound tourism market reached $51.646 billion with an increase of 3.27% year on year, ranking 4th in the world, following America, France and Spain in 2013.

China received 129.0778 million foreign travelers with a decrease of 2.51% YoY, ranking 4 in the world, following France, America and Spain in 2013.

In 2013, top 10 countries by foreign travelers were South Korea, Japan, Russia, America, Vietnam, Malaysia, Mongolia, the Philippines, Singapore and Australia. It is estimated that foreign travelers from South Korea will exceed 4.3 million in 2014. The report also shows that China inbound tourism market suffered decline in 2013, and there were 651.7 thousand travelers from Thailand with an increase of 0.63% YoY, 625 thousand travelers from Britain with an increase of 1.07% and 533.5 thousand travelers from France with an increase of 1.66%.

At present, inbound travelers’ consumption is relatively weak and 70% of them spend between $501 and $3,000. The inbound travelers’ satisfactory index was 75.46 in 2013, which was in a basic satisfactory level. Chinese tourism destinations still need to improve in some aspects like city management, public service, industry service and so on.

Foreign travelers favor Chinese traditional destinations like Beijing, Xi’an, Shanghai, Guangzhou, the Yangtze three gorges and etc. They tend to know about Chinese culture mainly involving Chinese art, historic landmarks and sites, traditional cuisines, shopping and so on. Some Chinese travel agencies develop various tourist products like skiing and hiking to meet foreign travelers’ needs.

Till now, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Chongqing, Shenyang, Dalian and Xi’an have implemented policy of Visa-free within 72 hours transit, opening to 51 countries in the world. This policy can be helpful to China inbound tourism market.

New media and event marketing have been new methods to promote China inbound tourism. China tourism department has carried out online and offline marketing. China has launched promotional website about tourism in other countries and opened official Wechat, Facebook and Twitter account to improve digital marketing system for China tourism industry.

Also read: Rise of the China Outbound Tourism

China Tourism Academy estimates total revenue generated from China’s travel industry is going to reach RMB 3.3 trillion (USD 530 billion) this year with 3.76 billion person trips.

In the first half of 2014, China’s travel industry accepted 1.85 billion person-trips, up 10.2% comparing with the first half of 2013, generating a total revenue of RMB 1.5 trillion (USD 240 billion), up 16%.

China’s inbound travel market generated USD 23 billion with 62 million person-trips. The inbound travel market is expected to slow down this year.

The total number of China’s outbound travelers reached 54.1 million in H1, up 18.7%, with a total spend of over USD 70 billion (YoY 20.7%). Chinese oversea traveling is expected to grow by 18.2% this year to reach 116 million person-trips spending up by 20% to USD 155 billion.

Related: Understanding Chinese Luxury Travelers

Source: CCTV

As the report published by Ctrip showed, China tourists had strong willingness to travel in 2014. Over 99% of respondents would go traveling, and about half (51%) of them planned to travel 3 times and more. More tourists wished to travel more than once, compared with last year.

When will tourists choose to go for a trip this year? The inquiry found that paid leave and off-peak travel became mainstream in 2014, chosen by more than 80% of tourists, with a significant increase compared to 2013. But travel during the Spring Festival, the National Day or minor holidays was still a hot choice.

In respect of travel budget, 95% of tourists chose to increase or remained the same with last year. In terms of annual travel budget per person, about third of tourists planned to spend more than 10,000 yuan, and 1% of tourists had a budget of over 50,000 yuan.

What is the most important influencing factor of travel willingness? It’s the lack of vacation. Over 88% of the respondents chose “Time / holiday” as the vital factor. Next is the economic factor (income), chosen by half of the respondents, followed by “Travel security issue”.

The most influencing consumption factor of travel spending was housing (the cost of purchase and rent house), chosen by 56% polled. Other factors also included transportation (39%), social entertainment (28%), daily necessities (23%) and so on.

For the type of travel, domestic tourists chose self-guided tour mostly. Self-guided tour through travel agencies accounted for 42%, and 39% of tourists would choose totally self-guided tour. Only 19% of tourists preferred package tour according to the report.

In terms of transportation, the polled tourists would use combinations of different means, among which airplane, train and driving were three major choices. Other means including bus, cruise, bicycle and walking were also chosen.

In what way do the tourists make reservations and arrangement? The travel websites were the most used channel for information and reservation. 93% of participants said they would reserve online. The proportion of mobile client used increased tenfold to 39%, compared with last year.

What is the tourists’ preferred types of travel products? It’s found that tourists would choose multiple types of travel products, among which the top three are self-guided tour (74%), hotel (68%) and air ticket (62%). Car rental got 7% voted as a newly-developing business in recent years.

Among the planned travel destinations, Sanya, Lijiang and Jiuzhaigou were top three for inbound travel, while Thailand exceed Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan to become the hottest spot for outbound travel.

Most tourists thought positively of the change caused by Tourism Law. 67% of them chose “The itineraries are more normative”, followed by “No forced shopping, the overall cost of package tour is lower” and “The tour guides are more professional”. Also some participants opined that the law influenced little on self-guided tour.

For shopping item and items at own expense, three-in-ten chose “No need” and six-in-ten chose “It depends”; only 10% chose “Need”. Some respondents said, “There can be these items but the agency should make it clear, and no forced or implicit consumption.” and “We just don’t want optional items which are much more expensive than self-guided, and items like fooling, rip-off, high-priced shopping.”

According to China National Tourism Administration, in the first half of 2013, the number of foreign visitors in China was merely 4.94 million. Compared to the number of visitors in the first half of 2012, 2011 and 2010, it has been dropping consistently for three years.

Before long, The World Economic Forum published The Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2013. China ranked 10th in Asia Pacific, and global ranking was 45th. In a survey of the report, surprisingly, China ranked 130th in the friendliness nations for tourists which was the 11th as the unfriendliness nations.

However, unfriendliness could not explain why foreigners don’t like visiting China now. According to the report, tourism is heavily affected by economy and politics. In recent years, running away from China has been a hot topic all over media. An article from Economist listed several reasons why foreigners are running away from China, such as polluted urban environment, bad air condition, food quality, corruption, imperfect legal system and flawed education system.