ART ABROAD: A Chinese visitor at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City (WANG LEI)

Among independent travelers, nearly half of them made self-drive tours. Among people making domestic trips, 46 percent of them, or 1.36 billion tourists, chose to drive by themselves.

Owing to recent anti-corruption measures, government-sponsored travel has declined sharply. According to the green paper, in the first half of 2013, the occupancy rate of China's three-star hotels or above dropped by 6 percent over a year ago, with revenues from rooms and catering decreasing by 8.5 percent and 17.2 percent respectively.

Investment more active

According to the green paper, in 2013, direct investment in China's tourism industry reached 514.4 billion yuan ($84.33 billion), up by 16.6 percent over a year ago. Of that total, 57 percent was private investment, and 61 percent of the investment was put into leisure and holiday-oriented scenic spots. In 2013, the tourism industry directly created more than 500,000 new jobs.

The green paper said China's tourism industry has become unprecedentedly active in making mergers and acquisitions; a huge amount of money is flowing to foreign markets through investment in foreign airlines, yachts, hotels and other tourist facilities. Chinese companies have begun to participate in the international tourism market by using their capital, technologies, channels and brands. The most powerful example is that Wanda Group, China's largest premier commercial property and entertainment conglomerate, announced in June 2013 plans to acquire the British yacht builder Sunseeker at £320 million ($524 million). Wanda also plans to invest £700 million ($1.15 billion) in building a five-star plus Wanda Hotel in London, which will be the first luxury hotel built by a Chinese companies in a foreign country.

Wu said the large amount of capital flowing to foreign countries is an extension of the industrial chain led by the growing level of outbound travel. Tourism investment became increasingly active in 2013. Among various tourism-related sectors, we can see both huge investment in domestic facilities and successful financing practices in overseas markets. "To the tourism industry, such active investment activities indicate that the industry has been more attractive to investors, and investment plans are becoming more ambitious," said Wu.

In 2013, investment in mobile Internet applications for tourists also experienced explosive growth. Investment in applications in telecom, searching, positioning, travel guides, social networks and entertainment also grew fast over the year, making smart phones the first choice of "smart and easy-to-carry private assistant" for travelers.

According to the green paper, among China's online travel operators, the one that seizes the opportunity in the mobile Internet development will be the leader in future online travel markets.

Suggestions

Wu said China is widely recognized as a major nation for tourism. Its tourism industry makes significant contributions to economic growth and the creation of jobs. However, because China is a nation with a large population and operates on a huge economic scale, its tourism industry's contribution to economic growth is still lower than the global average. "For an economy that is the world's second largest, we cannot say China is a strong nation for tourism," said Wu.

She went on to state that there are many factors restricting the development of China's tourism industry, such as social openness, sustainability of existing scenic spots, industrial environments and overall social development.

At present China's tourism industry is fully open to investors, and there are no obstacles in investment and infrastructure improvement in scenic spots. The most urgent issue the government should address may be to improve the mechanism that ensures tourists have more holiday time.

Hence the green paper suggests that the government add two to six days of statutory holidays, resume the holiday week for the May Day holiday and extend the holidays for the Chinese New Year.

The green paper also suggests that the government promote better implementation of the mechanism of paid leaves so that workers can stagger their annual leaves.

Wu said if these measures can be carried out in the future, overcrowding in scenic spots during holidays can be alleviated and the Chinese tourism industry will make significant progress.

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