China had more then 120 million inbound travellers in 2005 - increasing more then 10%, than 2004. Among which, foreign travellers were 20.26 million, up by 19.6%, and 100.03 million tourists were from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, up by 8.6%. Over 46.81 million inbound travellers stayed overnight, increasing by 12.1%

According to the spot-check results of inbound tourism expenditure approved by the National Bureau of Statistics of China in 2005, China's tourism (foreign exchange) revenue was US 29.296 billion, increasing by 13.82% from 2004.

In 2005, the number of travel agencies in China was 16,846, among which 1,507 were newly founded, increasing 9.82% than 2004. The number of international agencies increased 118, up 18.02% than 2004. The total asset of travel agencies all over China was RMB 41.926 billion, declining by 1.21% than 2004, RMB 23.202 billion were in debt, decreasing by 0.77% from 2004.

Due to the SARS, in 2003, both Asian tourists to China and its proportion to inbound foreign travellers declined heavily. A majority of about 60% inbound tourists to China are Asian ever since 2000; In Quarter First of 2006, Asian tourists to China accounted for 62.25% of the total foreign travellers.

The development target of China's tourism program during the Eleventh Five-year Plan period is: the average annual growth of the inbound tourist, the inbound tourist staying overnight, and domestic tourist all increase by 8%, with the average annual revenue from international & domestic tourism rising by 12% and 10% respectively.

By 2010, the income from international and domestic tourism is expected to hit USD 53 billion and RMB 850 separately, and the total tourism revenue is expected to hit RMB 1.27 trillion. The tourism industry absorbs 500,000 employees each year, and the total number of the direct employment will reach 10 million by 2010.

In China's tourism market, the fierce competition will drive the asset integrations; will lead to a decline of anticipated profit rate, yet more new investment opportunities will be brought by the internal restructure. On one hand, the acquisition & reorganization of the tourism industry needs the participation of large-scale social capital and financial institutions. On the other hand, the development & innovation of tourism products will cultivate new investment fields; earlier entrants will gain considerable profits.

This report provides detailed analysis on China's domestic tourism, inbound tourism and exhibition tourism, together with full elaboration on the development of hotels, travel agencies and self-help tourism in China. It presents the status quo, development trend, tourist source of China's tourism industry. It also probes into the outbound tourism and gives you relative information. Meanwhile, some problems exist in the tourism product development are analyzed as well as the influences brought by the Eleventh Five-year Plan. Investors, tourism companies and those willing to enter this market will find this report is of great reference value.

Research and Markets ( www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c491388 ) has announced the addition of "China Tourism Industry Report, 2006" to their offering.

After twenty years of rapid growth in the economy, China has now become one of the world's most attractive destinations for tourists, which means great opportunities for the development of hotels. China, along with its entry into WTO, will further open its tourism market; meanwhile, the negative affects from excessive expansion in the 90's have been gradually digested by the market and the hotel industry is recovering. A new investment peak in the hotel industry appeared in the 2004-2005 period: international hotel groups surged into the Chinese market on a large scale while domestic hotels reacted harshly.

China had 120.29 million inbound travellers in 2005, increasing by 10.3% over 2004. Over 46.81 million of the inbound travellers stayed overnight, increasing by 12.1%. With further execution of reform and open policy, the national economy will continue to develop rapidly and peoples living standard will also improve. China is pacing up towards internationalization, for example the Beijing Olympic Games, Shanghai World Expo and Guangzhou Asian Sports Meeting are to be held soon, all of those factors are creating a good environment for hotel industry development in China.

Generally speaking, the hotel industry shows a strong momentum in China. IBFCMF of all five-star hotels in China increased by 42%; as for four- and three-star hotels, the increase rate was 52% and 24% separately. Particularly, IBFCMF for foreign funded five- and four-star hotels realized better increase rate, which shared 43% and 35% of their total revenue respectively. Five-star hotels in Shanghai set the highest record with IBFCMF sharing 48% of the total revenue, followed by Sanya (47%) and Beijing (40%). In addition, the guest room sector earned the most for five-star hotels, accounting for 55% of the total revenue while only taking 11% of the total expenditure. In contrast, 35% of the revenue came from catering sector, but shared 22% of the total expenditure.