CHONGQING (CQNEWS) -- According to the data released by China Tourism Academy, inbound tourism is expected to welcome 144 million visitors this year. Recently, the Ctrip and MasterCard have jointly issued the 2019 China Cross-border Tourist Consumption Report, which analyzes the three highlights of inbound tourism and deeply discusses the hometown, planned destination and travel preference of tourists coming to China.

Inbound tourism grows against trend, with the release of top 20 inbound consumption cities

From 2018 to 2019, the total number of inbound tourists and the total amount of consumption in China increased against the trend, which shows that foreigners still prefer China in their travel plan.

According to the anonymous summary data from MasterCard, the top 20 consumption cities for inbound tourists are as follows: Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Chengdu, Dongguan, Xi'an, Xiamen, Qingdao, Tianjin, Sanya, Wuxi, Zhangjiajie, Dalian, Chongqing, Zhuhai and Foshan.

Nearly 70% consumption amount are accounted by the first-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, while some cities like Nanjing, Xi'an, Xiamen, Sanya, and Wuxi are ranked higher. Due to the increasing input of tourism resources and the diffusion effect of first-tier cities, inbound tourists have more choice for visiting place in China.

Young foreigners prefer China, travelling by high-speed train

Based on the data of inbound tourists booking tickets on Ctrip, the proportion of post-80s in inbound tourists is still the highest, up to 25%, and that of post-90s and post-00s is increasing the fastest year by year, while that of post-50s is declining slowly. Due to less work load and more sufficient time, post-50s, post-90s and post-00s are able to meet the discount ticket period better.

After the arrival of airplane, high-speed train is becoming more and more popular in the non-first-tier cities. As per the data that inbound tourists buy train tickets on Ctrip, the booking number increased by 27% from 2017 to 2019. High-speed train is selected more by inbound tourists because of its high efficiency and convenience. In addition, the annual growth rate in the non-first-tier cities is higher than that in the first-tier cities, which shows that the hinterland of China has capacity of accepting inbound tourists.

Tourists in different age has own preference in travel choices. Nearly 30% train tickets are booked by the post-70s tourists, among which businessman are majority. From the above, we also can see the business tourism is developing besides the first-tier cities. (Translated by Jiang Yuling, Fathom Language Limited)