As you might have noticed earlier this month if you dared to venture outside, tourism is a pretty big thing here in China, and, for better or worse, it only promises to get bigger.
A report by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) has found that the world's top five fastest growing tourist cities are all in China. To come to this conclusion, the study considered the likely future contribution to city economies and job creation from the tourism sector in 65 different cities around the globe over the next decade.
By this metric, Chongqing ranked at the top with 14% growth per year, followed closely by Guangzhou (13.1%), Shanghai (12.8%), Beijing (12%) and Chengdu (11.2%).
The rest of the cities in the top ten also all come from Asia: Manila, Delhi, Shenzhen, Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta.
In its report, the WTTC states the obvious: “The dominance of the Chinese market is clear, both in terms of future growth and overall size."
Increasingly, Chinese tourists have been venturing abroad (even with their weak passports) as the country's middle class grows, but most still like to do their traveling closer to home. Over the Golden Week holiday this year, mainland travelers made an incredible 6 million trips abroad, but a mind-boggling 710 million trips domestically, a 10% increase in tourist numbers compared to last year.