Initiative creates tourism boom

The number of visits by Chinese tourists to Belt and Road countries, as well as trips by tourists from those countries to China, have increased rapidly since the initiative was proposed, industry insiders said.

A survey released recently by tourism company Lvmama f ound that Chinese tourists made almost three times the number of visits to Belt and Road countries last year as they did in 2015.

The hottest destinations

Top 10 Belt and Road destinations

Popular destinations for Chinese tourists in 2016

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

were Southeast Asian nations such as Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam that are nearby and have high-quality tourism resources, according to the survey.

“2017 is the China-ASEAN tourism cooperation year, and will also soon have the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation. Both will add to Chinese people’s interest and willingness to travel to Southeast Asian countries,” said Wang Xiaosong, CEO of Lvmama.

The survey also f ound that emerging destinations, including Russia and some

6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

Central and East European countries — Poland, t he Czech Republic, Hungary, Serbia and Slovakia — are becoming increasingly popular choices.

From January to April, bookings to Russia through Lvmama tripled on an annual basis, while trips to Central and East European countries increased by 230 percent, Wang said.

“Tourism cooperation between China and Belt and Road countries will facilitate people-to-people exchanges and lay a good foundation for collaboration i n other fields like infrastructure and trade,” he said.

Another travel agency, Ctrip, said it sold more than 3 million trips to China to tourists from Belt and Road countries last year, a 50 percent increase over 2015.

Among international tourists, those from Vietnam represented the largest share, at 10 percent. Other common sources of tourists were Russia, Singapore, Myanmar and Mongolia.

The China National Tourism Administration estimates that Chinese tourists will pay 150 million visits to Belt and Road countries during the 13 th Five Year Plan (2016-20) and spend a total of $200 billion.

Meanwhile, China is expected to attract 85 million visitors from countries along the Belt and Road. They are expected to spend $110 billion during the same period, according to the administration.

Thailand The Philippines Vietnam Singapore Indonesia Malaysia Maldives United Arab Emirates Cambodia Sri Lanka