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Tourism and Hospitality

OVERVIEW

CHENGDU, A CITY OF TOURISM

DEVELOPING INBOUND TOURISM

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OVERVIEW

With the nation's rising standard of living and Chinese government's concerted effort to shift its economy towards a consumption-driven one, tourism has been gaining greater salience and attention. Taking inbound tourism as an example, Tourism will benefit many industries r the destination sites. For example, sight-viewing itself only accounts for about 4% of the money inbound tourists spend. In contrast, money spent on retailing, food & beverage account for 21.8% and 9.4% respectively.

Figure 7.1 Inbound Tourism Income Mix in China

After the 2003 SARS crisis, China’s tourism has seen a swift recovery. In 2006, China raked in RMB 623 billion from domestic tourism, 17.9% higher than 2005. At the same time, inbound tourism income reached RMB 258.6 billion, 15.9% higher than 2005. In combination, in 2006, China’s tourism income reached RMB 891 billion, nearly doubled that in 2000. In 2006, the tourism industry accounted for 4.2% of China’s GDP. China is now the world's fourth largest destination for inbound tourism and the largest domestic tourism market.

In 2006, Chengdu

raked in RMB 34 billion

from its tourism

industry, 18.7% higher

than in 2005, 2.3

percentage points

higher than the national

figure.

Figure 7.2 China Tourism Income (2000-2006) (RMB billion)

As one of the key tourism cities in China, Chengdu witnessed an even faster growth. In 2006, Chengdu attracted more than 40 million domestic arrivals and 0.58 million foreign arrivals. In 2006, Chengdu raked in RMB 34 billion from its tourism industry, 18.7% higher than in 2005, 2.3 percentage points higher than the national figure.

By the end of 2006, it had 93 hotels with three stars and above and 256 travel agencies. By the end of July 2007, there were nine five-star hotels in

Figure 7.3 Chengdu Tourism Income

(2001-2006) (RMB billion)

Chengdu - Sheraton Chengdu Lido Hotel, Chengdu California Garden Hotel, Kempinski Hotel Chengdu, Shangri-la Hotel Chengdu, Sofitel Wanda Hotel Chengdu, Jin Jiang Hotel, Crowne Plaza Hotel Chengdu, Holiday Inn West Century City Hotel, and Homeland Hotel.