Joint efforts needed to advance sustainable growth amid globalization of tourism: experts

Global Times: China's influence and voice are becoming more important to global tourism development

With China playing an increasing positive role in global tourism, its influence and voice are in turn becoming more and more important in the development of the sector. This year s Fragrant Hills Tourism Summit, which was held in Qingdao from Friday to Saturday...

Release time : 2018-09-11 09:36:05

source : Global Times

travel agencies to further integrate tourism industry with the city's development, Meng said.

Investment fever

A total of 23 tourism projects worth a collective 151 billion yuan ($22.06 billion) were signed during the summit.

The growth of the world tourism sector needs more investment and cooperation, and Chinese capital is paying increased attention to the industry, experts said.

The investment amount in China's tourism projects has become bigger and bigger, Song Rui, director of the Tourism Research Center at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said during a session at the summit on Friday.

Chinese capital flowed into projects worth a total of 440.6 billion yuan in 2016, where each project was worth between 1 billion yuan and 5 billion yuan, up 24.4 percent year-on-year, Song said, citing official data.

Meanwhile, about 248 billion yuan worth of investment also flowed into projects each worth above 10 billion yuan during the same year, up 55.2 percent on a yearly basis, Song noted.

"Private companies take up the majority of investment, accounting for 58.7 percent of the total, followed by the government and Stated-owned firms with 19.1 percent and 15 percent, respectively," she said, adding that investment from foreign institutions only accounts for 1.5 percent.

Song also said that in addition to travel companies, firms from other sectors such as property, transportation and entertainment are also eyeing the growing sector as they aim to create a comprehensive industry chain with investment.

Among 106 major tourism investment projects in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, 27 are invested in by travel companies, accounting for 26.7 percent, while the rest are invested in by non-travel agencies, accounting for 73.3 percent, Song said.

An industry expert surnamed Wang told the Global Times on the sidelines of the summit on Saturday that despite the rapid growth rate of investment in China's tourism sector, industrial bubbles will