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China has become one of the driving forces in the global outbound tourism industry. In 2019, the number of outbound tourists from China reached nearly *** million, almost three times as many as in 2010. However, the number of outbound tourists from China dropped to around **** million in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The numbers started slowly picking up in 2023 after border restrictions were removed. In 2024, Chinese made a total of around *** million trips abroad, and the revenue of the Chinese tourism industry accounted for nearly ** percent of the GDP.

Tourism boost during Chinese New Year

Outbound tourism in China surged during the 2024 Spring Festival holiday, with Chinese tourists embarking on approximately *** million overseas trips from February 10 to February 17. This uptick in tourism signifies the resurgence of the Spring Festival holidays as a peak season for global travel. Alipay revealed that its users' spending overseas during this period reached *** percent of the 2019 level, demonstrating a substantial increase of *** percent from 2023.

Driving Asia Pacific’s travel boom

Asia Pacific’s travel sector has recently experienced robust growth, with flight demand projected to return to pre-pandemic levels in 2024, largely due to an increase in Chinese tourists. The visa-free policy introduced by several Southeast Asian countries to attract more visitors from China is a major contributor to this trend. The top destinations for Chinese tourists during the New Year holiday included Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Indonesia.