Tourism growth would win an A+ from Miss Quinn

Miss Quinn was right. The world had changed. If you were lucky as a young child, you will have benefited from a teacher who could inspire, encourage and open your eyes. Mine, when I was growing up in the Irish city of Limerick in 1969, was Miss Quinn.

She was no soft touch. If you didn’t do your homework she could turn the air blue. As a 9-year-old you didn’t want a repeat performance of being singled out for a tongue lashing. One day, I can remember it clearly, it was snowing heavily. Some of the students had been unable to make it to school from the countryside. The class was about half full. She came in with a map and told us she was going to talk to us about the world for our geography class. Name a city in China, she asked. A forest of hands went up. “Beijing, miss,” said Seamus. “Any other?” said Miss Quinn. “Shanghai,” Patrick replied. She unfurled the map, attached it to the blackboard, and pointed to Harbin. A city we had never heard of. If any of you ever make it to this city in northern China, the world will have changed, Miss Quinn said.

When I arrived in China I made it a mission to get to Harbin. It was cold. No, that’s an understatement. It was like daggers scratching your skin. But I had done what a teacher had inspired me to do decades before. Tourism is not just soft power, it is a robust growth engine.

Tourism has outperformed the global overall economy for the past seven years. It contributed $7.6 trillion in 2016, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council. During the next decade, the council predicts, almost one in four jobs created worldwide will be related to tourism. It is deeply ironic that a sector that relies so heavily on the past, in terms of historic sights, is setting the agenda for the future.

This is China’s strong point. No other country has quite the mystique, exoticism or lure of China. It has it all. Sights, sounds, transport links and, above all, people. And to state the obvious, it is big.

Global tourist destinations the world over are benefiting from Chinese tourists. This is bound to grow as more Chinese citizens get passports. But, and this is the strange thing, relatively few tourists come to China. Take 2015. That year saw 25.98 million foreigners visit China. Sure, a large number, but considering the size of the country, the potential to take in far more visitors is obvious.

Time-strapped European or North American tourists might opt for the closeness of the Mediterranean or Mexico and the Caribbean. But tourism is changing. More young people are taking a year or two off from work or study to travel. And the gray market, those over 50, have more time and money to spend.

It is still not an easy task getting a tourist visa for China, and more people would undoubtedly come if visa procedures were simplified. It’s good for the economy, but of far greater significance is that the more foreigners who visit China the greater the understanding of what this country has achieved and what it can offer to the world. At a time when the isolationist drum is beating ever louder in the West, let the East lead the way, as it has so often in the past.

Miss Quinn would approve.