China has recently tightened its visa regulations for international visitors.

Travellers applying for tourist visas will now be required to submit a letter of invitation from a person or company in China, in addition to a copy of their hotel reservation and return air ticket.

Such a move may impact the number of foreign tourists and consequently, China's tourism revenues.

China, the second largest economy globally, has one of the largest number of tourist arrivals in the world. United Nations World Tourism has forecast that the country will become the world's most popular tourist destination by 2015.

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