China is expected to surpass the United States as the world’s largest tourism economy within the next few years as it expands its visa-free travel policy, Bloomberg reported, citing the latest data from the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) and travel platform Chase Travel.
According to the data, China’s travel and tourism sector grew by 9.9% last year, more than twice the global average and significantly outpacing the United States’ growth rate of 0.9%.
According to Bloomberg, the sharp expansion in China’s tourism market last year was largely driven by a surge of more than 10% in spending by foreign visitors to China. In contrast, spending by international tourists in the United States declined by approximately 5% during the same period.
“While the U.S. market is shrinking, China is growing at a very rapid pace,” WTTC Chairman Gloria Guevara said.
“If this trend continues, we will almost catch up with the gap with the U.S. within three to four years and reverse it,” she added.
Bloomberg also noted that the decline in foreign visitors to the United States is linked to stricter immigration policies and rising geopolitical tensions.
Data from the U.S. Bureau of International Trade (ITA) indicates that approximately 68 million foreign visitors traveled to the United States last year, representing a 5.5% decline compared with the previous year.
Experts suggest that if China continues to advance its visa‑waiver policy and invest in tourism infrastructure, the global tourism landscape could undergo a significant transformation by the end of the 2020s.
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