2016 China Tourism Facts & Figures

In 2016, Chinese government has strengthened supervision on scenic sites and travel agencies. In August, Orange Isle in Changsha and Shenlong Gorge Scenic Area in Chongqing were delisted from the 5A Scenic Spot List because of safety issues, poor environmental hygiene and a significant shortage of infrastructure and tourism services. The other three attraction sites including Mount Tianzhu in Anhui, as well as Mount Wuyi and Earth Towers of the Hakkas in Fujian were seriously reprimanded because of poor toilet facilities, disguised forced shopping, inadequate introduction of the scenic area, as well as ignorance of uncertified tour guides. This is also a kind of warning to other attraction sites, to encourage them to continuously improve their facilities and services or risk being delisted.

Another fact is that great efforts have been made to crack down on illegal one-day tours by providing tourism buses to famous attraction sites and reinforcing regulatory measures such as revoking the business licenses of some illegitimate tourism enterprises.
 In 2015, China launched the "toilet revolution" to build, reconstruct, or expand 25,000 toilets at tourist attractions all over the country. Till the middle August of 2016, about 29,512 toilets were either completed or under construction, which has already completed 51.77% of the three-year plan.

The fact is that it is not enough to only build toilets only; we should also renovate and construct other relevant tourism infrastructures. The barrier-free channels, mother and baby’s rooms and some special infrastructures for the disabled, elderly, weak, sick and pregnant are also need to be taken into consideration. And we should not only focus on scenic sites, but also pay some attention to other places that tourists may go like train stations, and airports.
 About 11,499 star-rated hotels submitted business data to the database of China National Tourism Administration by the end of 2016, which took up 94.15% of all star hotels. 10,157 hotels have been audited by provincial tourism authorities, including 72 one-star hotels, 1,972 two-star hotels, 4,937 three-star hotels, 2,367 four-star hotels and 809 five-star hotels. Their total revenue in the last quarter of 2016 reached CNY 54.434 billion, 42.42% of them, namely CNY 23.091 billion was from affiliated restaurants and the other 44.99%, namely CNY 24.490 billion was from room-related services. According to the data, the average room rate for the above-mentioned 10,157 hotels was CNY 341.13/room/night and the average occupancy was 56.60%; the revenue per available room was CNY 193.07/night, and the revenue per room was CNY 36,084.20.

 The sizes of star hotels and their business statistics in quarter 4:

	Number of Hotels	Average Room Rate (CNY / Room / Night)	Average Occupancy (%)	Revenue Per Available Room (CNY / Room / Night)	Revenue Per Room (CNY / Room)
Total	10,157	341.13	56.60	193.07	36,084.20
5-Star	809	614.96	61.56	378.54	71,741.77
4-Star	2,367	334.73	58.50	195.82	38,706.66
3-Star	4,937	218.56	53.58	117.12	22,136.30
2-Star	1,972	181.01	54.64	93.47	14,346.75
1-Star	72	102.02	43.41	44.28	9,612.43

 Average room rate of top ten tourism cities in quarter 4 (CNY / Room / Night):
(Sorted by star level)

1-Star		2-Star		3-Star		4-Star		5-Star
City	Price	City	Price	City	Price	City	Price	City	Price
Average	102.02	Average	181.01	Average	218.56	Average	334.73	Average	614.96
Beijing	195.40	Wuxi	333.93	Beijing	386.89	Shanghai	513.40	Shanghai	948.73
Shenyang	154.04	Wenzhou	289.71	Shanghai	372.27	Beijing	496.47	Sanya	936.95
Ningbo	120.52	Beijing	279.68	Lhasa	370.42	Zhuhai	477.24	Jinan	817.25
Hangzhou	119.59	Nanjing	268.04	Tianjin	336.75	Guangzhou	449.98	Beijing	803.64
Shanghai	118.89	Guangzhou	267.34	Shenzhen	329.08	Huangshan	434.22	Guangzhou	794.66
Guiyang	103.55	Shanghai	264.08	Guangzhou	316.05	Hangzhou	433.44	Harbin	730.14
---	---	Yichang	263.87	Hangzhou	312.93	Shenzhen	413.57	Shenzhen	717.88
---	---	Taiyuan	244.98	Fuzhou	291.45	Lanzhou	375.48	Lanzhou	708.63
---	---	Shenzhen	240.21	Yichang	273.93	Nanjing	375.14	Hangzhou	707.24
---	---	Hangzhou	230.13	Nanjing	271.62	Wenzhou	373.96	Kunming	677.34

 In the last quarter of 2016, a total of 28,097 travel agencies are operated in China and 26,508 of them, accounting for 94.34%, submitted their operating figures. They received 4.3823 million inbound tourists, which decreased by 1.70% over the same period of 2015. They organized 14.4891 million outbound tourists, which increased by 4.49%. They served domestic tourists of 42.4286 million, which showed an increase of 0.58% over the same period of 2015.
 An upsurge for tourism came in 2016 Spring Festival. About 302 million tourists were received in China which witnessed an increase of 15.6% over the same period of 2015; it realized revenue of CNY 365.1 billion and it showed a rise of 16.3%. Among them, overnight tourists were up to 70.86 million and the consumption per person was up to CNY 3,054. Most of them were for sightseeing or leisure purposes such as tropical islands and leisure cities. More tourists chose independent tours and preferred mid-range or high-end tourism products. More tourists chose package tours to travel abroad.

Data Source: Ministry of Culture and Tourism of People's Republic of China
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