CHINESE INVADE THE WORLD: 100 MILLION TOURISTS IN 2013
With about 100 million tourists who visited at least one foreign country in the course of 2013 , China overtakes the U.S. in the first place and it is stated as ” exporting ” of its citizens. According to data from the National Tourism Administration , the Chinese abroad were 97 million in 2013, a considerable increase compared to the past : in 2004 they had exceeded 29 million.
It also increases the amount of money spent abroad. Not counting airfare and hotel accommodations , Chinese tourists spent in 2013 about $ 110 billion compared with 102 the previous year. Also in this field have exceeded not only the Americans, but also the Germans , until today, ” first buyers ” in foreign markets and shops .
Song Rui , a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences , explains: “Our tourists spend so much abroad that some foreigners have begun to call ‘ walking wallets ‘ .” The analysis is not overwhelming : more and more hotels and shops of the upper middle trying to attract Chinese visitors : Harrods , the famous London store , has recently hired 70 employees who speak Mandarin . Also inside , the megastore has more than 100 terminals in China Unionpay , which allow direct payments from bank accounts in China.