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 2.51 percent over the previous year, says the report, which was released Oct. 20. China remained the fourth most popular global destination, after France, the U.S., and Spain. China also came in fourth in total tourist revenue, 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, the English language paper reported. “China’s inbound tourism market is in a grave situation unseen before.”
Some three-quarters of tourists visiting the sites of China, including such top draws as Beijing’s Great Wall and Forbidden City and the Terracotta Warriors in Xian, said they were satisfied. That, however, was a drop of more than 11 percent from the previous year. Water and air quality were both cited as problems behind the decline 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.
