China’s smog is scaring away visitors from abroad, and damaging the country’s tourism market, according to a study released earlier this week by the China Tourism Academy, reported the China Daily today.
The number of inbound tourists to China last year numbered 129 million, down by 2.51 percent over the previous year, says the report released Oct. 20. China remained the fourth most popular global destination, after France, the United States, and Spain. China also came in fourth in total tourist revenues, earning $52 billion, an increase of 3.27 percent over 2012.
The number of tourists has fallen every quarter since the beginning of 2012, or nine consecutive quarters, both on an annual and quarterly basis, said Dai Bin, the director of the academy. “There is no sign that it will bounce back soon,” Dai said, reported the English language paper. “China’s inbound tourism market is in a grave situation unseen before.”
Some three-quarters of tourists visiting the sites of China, including top draws Beijing’s Great Wall and Forbidden City, and the Terracotta Warriors in Xian, said they were satisfied. That, however, was a drop of over 11 percent, compared to the previous year. Water and air quality were both cited as problems behind the fall in visitors.
Meanwhile, the global environment isn’t proving conducive to tourism either, Dai pointed out. “Besides the economic situation and international relationships, issues of weather, environment and terrorism have cast a shadow on the industry,” he said.
