Chinese Overseas Spending Ranks First in the World

Tourists on Phuket Island, Thailand, enjoy unspoiled scenery. 

 

The latest data released by the World Tourism Organization (WTO) shows that China's revenue from international tourism in 2015 amounted to $11.4 billion, taking Spain's former ranking as second in the world. The US remains first with $17.8 billion.

 

As for spending and visits to overseas countries, China ranks first in the world, according to Xinhua News Agency.

The spending of Chinese tourists abroad witnessed a year-on-year increase of 25 percent, reaching $292 billion, followed by the US ($120 billion), Germany ($76 billion) and the UK ($63billion). The number of Chinese people traveling abroad grew 10 percent overall and totaled 128 million, the data showed.

 

Global revenue from tourism in 2015 rose 3.6 percent, amounting to $1.4 trillion with an average daily spending of $4 billion per day. The number of international tourists increased 4.4 percent to reach 1.2 trillion.

 

The growth rate of tourism worldwide has exceeded that of merchandise trade for four consecutive years. The tourism industry accounted for 7 percent of world exports and 30 percentof exported services in 2015.

German firms upbeat on Chinese market growth: report

BEIJING - German firms in China are still optimistic about their local sales growth despite theeconomic slowdown, a report showed Tuesday.

About 90 percent of the surveyed 189 German firms, based in China, planned to continuebusiness in China despite the economy seeing the weakest quarter-on-quarter expansion inthe first quarter since 2011, according to the report released by the German Chamber ofCommerce in China.

Over one third of the surveyed German firms have taken steps such as rolling out newproducts and services to adapt to market changes, the report showed.

Meanwhile, most German firms look forward to the opportunities brought about by China'sdevelopment plan for the next five years. Over half of the surveyed firms regard China'sgrowing sales market to be their biggest opportunity as more Chinese firms upgrade theirsystems and equipment.

"One important area of business we see from the 13th Five-Year Plan is the focus oninnovation -- this carries the potential for ample Sino-German business cooperation," saidAlexandra Voss, North China executive director with the German Chamber of Commerce inChina.

China is Germany's largest trade partner outside Europe. There are more than 5,000 Germancompanies in China. Sentiment is high among the firms as they have been encouraged byChina's efforts in the areas of environmental protection and innovation, according to thereport.

They also expected more agreeable market environment thanks to continuous opening upand easier market access, the report said.