China will see 100 million more outbound than inbound tourists over the next five years, a reflection of eased visa policies globally and increased competition from other countries, read a recent industry report on China’s inbound and outbound tourism.
The report released by the Center for China and Globalization (CCG) and online travel platform Ctrip calls on authorities to improve China’s visa policies for tourists to narrow the deficit,The Paper reported.
Visa exemption policies must be relaxed, the joint report suggested, adding that China has relatively few visa categories and an inconvenient application process. Also, visa processing in China still uses labor-intensive methods to process visas that are not only expensive but also time-consuming, read the industry report.
Just as every industry must respond to increasing competition in the current global economy, tourism has to address this deficit if it is going to remain competitive on the international market, Liang Jianzhang, founder of Ctrip, told The Paper.
According to the latest data issued by Ctrip, around seven million Chinese will spend the Spring Festival abroad this year.
The difficulty of applying for tourist visas is the first threshold for foreign tourists to China, said Xi Weihang, vice president of Ctrip, The Paper reported.
The report suggested that China establish self-service visa application platforms and improve the management of information platforms to attract more inbound tourists.
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