Tourism in china

Tourism in China is a significant industry. The rate of tourism has greatly expanded over the last few decades since the beginning of reform and opening. The emergence of a newly rich middle class and an easing of restrictions on movement by the Chinese authorities are both fueling this travel boom. China has become one of the world’s most-watched and hottest inbound and outbound tourist markets. According to Xinhuanet, world is on the cusp of a sustained Chinese tourism boom.[1]

As of 2015, China is the fourth most visited country in the world, after France, United States, and Spain, with 56.9 million international tourists per year.[2]

In 2017, tourism contributed about CNY 8.77 trillion (USD 1.35 trillion), 11.04% of the GDP, and contributed direct and indirect employment of up to 28.25 million people. There were 139.48 million inbound trips and five billion domestic trips.[3][4] Data from 2016 indicated that the majority of China’s foreign tourists came (transferred) from Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. Among the number of tourist arrivals who stayed for at least a night, 27.72 million came from Hong Kong, 4.81 million from Macau and 5.09 million from Taiwan. When adjusted to exclude transfers from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, the number of tourist arrivals from foreign countries directly to China is 21.65 million.[5]

China ranked second in the world for travel and tourism’s contribution to GDP in 2014 ($943.1 billion), and first in the world for travel and tourism’s contribution to employment (66,086,000 jobs in 2014). Tourism, based on direct, indirect, and induced impact, accounted for 9.3 percent of China’s GDP in 2013.[6]

Since 2012, tourists from China have been the world’s top spender in international tourism, leading global outbound travel. In 2016, the country accounted for 21% of the world’s international tourism spending, or $261 billion.[7] (Do note that the stats include journeys made to the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau, as well as Taiwan; in 2017, these accounted for 69.5m of the so-called “overseas” journeys.) At the time, only 7% of Chinese had a passport, so the “potential for further growth is staggering”, according to a UK news report

China’s mountains, lakes, valleys, caves and waterfalls:

Mount Tai (Tai Shan) in the east, Mount Hengshan in the south, Mount Hua in the west, Mount Hengshan in the north, and Mount Song in the center of China have been called the Five Sacred Mountains since antiquity. The Taishan massif, which snakes through central Shandong, is admired by Chinese as paramount among them. Another mountain celebrated for its beauty is Huangshan in southern Anhui, known for its graceful pines, unusual rocks, cloud seas and hot springs.

Jiuzhaigou, Huangguoshu Waterfall, and Guilin are all located in southwestern China. Jiuzhaigou in northern Sichuan is a beautiful “fairyland valley” running over 40 km through snow-covered mountains, lakes, waterfalls, and forest. The Huangguoshu Waterfalls in Guizhou are a group of waterfalls, 18 above-ground and four below, which can be heard from five km away. The Li River in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region winds its way through karst peaks for 82 km between Guilin and Yangshuo.

On the plateau in northern China are many spectacular lakes. The Tianchi (Heavenly Pool) in the Tianshan Mountains in Xinjiang Autonomous Region is 1,980 meters above sea level. This 105-m-deep lake is crystal clear, the high mountains surrounding it carpeted with green grass and colorful flowers.

Along the renowned Three Gorges of the Yangtze River are many scenic spots and historical sites; the Qutang Gorge is rugged and majestic, the Wu Gorge elegant, deep and secluded, the Xiling Gorge full of shoals and reefs and rolling water. The Lesser Three Gorges are lush with greenery, flanking water so clear you can see to the bottom. The Three Gorges Dam built here is China’s biggest key hydro-power project.

Historical and cultural sites
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Beauties Wearing Flowers, by Zhou Fang, 8th century
China’s long history has left many cultural relics and the title of “China Top Tourist City” has gone to the first group of 54 cities. The Great Wall, a symbol of the Chinese nation, is also a prime example of historical sites that have become major tourist attractions. As the greatest defense-structure project in the history of human civilization, it dates back more than 2,000 years ago to the Spring and Autumn and the Warring States periods – huge in its scale and grandeur. There are more than ten sections of the Great Wall open to tourists, including the passes, blockhouses and beacon towers at Badaling in Beijing, Laolongtou in Hebei and Jiayuguan Pass in Gansu.

Grottoes filled with precious murals and sculptures are concentrated along the ancient Silk Road in Gansu. The best known are the Mogao Caves, a “treasure house of oriental art”, with 492 caves with murals and statues on the cliff faces. There are 45,000 sq m of murals and over 2,100 colorful statues, all of high artistry. In the south, grotto art is represented in Sichuan by the Leshan Giant Buddha, carved into a cliff face. Seventy-one meters high and 28 meters wide, it is the largest sitting Buddha in stone, showing the carving skill of ancient craftsmen.

The Shaolin Temple in Henan, the birthplace of Chinese Zen Buddhism and famous for its Shaolin Kung Fu martial arts, dates back to 495 AD. Here can be seen the Ming period Five-Hundred-Arhats Mural and Qing period Shaolin kungfu paintings. In Hubei, the beautiful Wudang Mountain, with 72 peaks covering an area of 30 km2 (12 sq mi), form a sacred site of Taoism, which preserves one of China’s most complete and largest-scale ancient Taoist architecture. In western Sichuan, Mount Emei, dotted with ancient Buddhist temples and structures, is one of China’s four sacred Buddhist mountains｡

Most of China’s 101[citation needed] cities classified as famous historical and cultural cities are over 1,000 years old. South of the Yangtze River, Suzhou and Hangzhou, long known as “paradise on earth”, are crisscrossed with rivers, lakes, bridges, fields and villages, as beautiful as paintings. Today’s well-preserved ancient cities inc