China's tourism in 2008
In 2008, the number of inbound visitors totaled 130.03 million, a year-on-year decline of 1.4 percent. Of this total, 24.33 million were foreigners, down 6.8 percent; and 105.70 million were Chinese compatriots from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, down 0.1 percent. Of all the inbound visitors, overnight visitors counted 53.05 million, down 3.1 percent. Foreign exchange earnings from international tourism topped US$40.8 billion, down 2.6 percent. The number of outbound visitors totaled 45.84 million, up 11.9 percent. Of this total, 40.13 million were on private visits, a year-on-year rise of 14.9 percent, or 87.5 percent of all outgoing visitors. The year 2008 saw 1.71 billion domestic tourists, up 6.3 percent. The revenue from domestic tourism totaled 874.9 billion yuan, up 12.6 percent.