Beijing experienced an unforeseen sharp dive in the number of inbound tourists in 2013, and tourism officials are studying ways to improve the situation.
Statistics from the Beijing Tourism Development Commission show that Beijing had 4.2 million visitors from January to November 2013. This figure is 10.3 percent lower than the 2012 figure for the same period. The commission blamed the decline on the weak global economy, a strong yuan and the city's existing pollution problems.
Beijing is not the only city that saw a drop in inbound tourism figures. Statistics supplied by the China National Tourism show that China had 118.2 million visitors from January to November last year which is 2.47 less than the 2012 count.
China's inbound tourism market has not been experiencing growth in recent years as tourists that frequently visit China, who are mostly from Japan, South Korea, Russia and the United States have opted for other Asian destinations like Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia.
These strong competitors, according to Dai Bin director of the China Tourism Academy, have seen a rapid growth in their tourism industry in recent years. Dai Bin added that China has not taken inbound tourism as seriously as other countries in Southeast Asia that have invested greatly in their inbound tourism development.
According to experts, an important step that has to be done to improve the situation is to make the inbound tourism market attractive to Chinese travel agencies that currently see little profit in it. These agencies have been focusing more on outbound tourism because of the many Chinese who travel abroad because of the strong yuan.
Professor Yang of the China Tourism Academy said that a long-term national plan which would include improving China's image and investment in inbound tourism resources is necessary to attract visitors. He added that many tour packages still being offered are now outdated and traditional tourism resources no longer have their appeal to today's travelers.