CHINESE tourists have become the driving force behind the rapid travel growth in the Asia-Pacific region, according to industry experts attending an international conference on tourism trends in Guilin.
The region posted a 8.6-percent rise in tourism in the first four months of the year, and 75 percent of international tourists came from within the area.
The Chinese mainland, Japan and the Republic of Korea were the biggest sources of tourists, according to the first travel trend and research conference of the United Nations World Tourism Organization and the Pacific Asia Travel Association, a non-profit trade association.
John Koldowski, head of the PATA strategy and information center, said that about 500 million tourists traveled within the Asia-Pacific region in 2006, including 30 million Chinese.
The "Chinese factor" will have a big impact on tourism destinations, he said.
He reported that 710,000 Chinese tourists visited the ROK in 2005 and the number will double by 2009. Chinese tourists to New Zealand totaled 87,000 in 2005, and the number will rise to 200,000 by 2009.
Countries, including Singapore, Japan, Malaysia and Indonesia - other destinations favored by Chinese tourists - are also likely to see a rapid rise.
Francesco Frangiali, UNWTO secretary-general, predicted China would become the biggest travel destination in the world, because tourism has developed rapidly in the country and the middle-class is growing quickly, creating a powerful group of travel consumers.
Frangiali's prediction was echoed by Michael Yates, deputy president of PATA.
Yates cited a PATA survey in which 90 percent of the respondents said they hoped to visit several cities while traveling to China for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
China now receives 125 million international tourists and accommodates 1.4 billion domestic tourists every year. The number has increased five percent a year.
In 2009, China could receive 145 million international tourists, said Yates, advising the country to make efforts to limit the destructive impact of visitors on natural resources.
The first travel trend and research conference of UNWTO and PATA, which opened on Friday and ended on Sunday, was attended by about 200 tourism specialists from 20 countries and regions.