中國遊客幫助全球旅遊業騰飛

Chinese consumers fuelled a travel and tourism boom last year, despite the country’s economic slowdown.

儘管中國經濟增速放緩，但是去年中國消費者引發了一場旅遊觀光熱潮。

Chinese tourists spent $215bn outside mainland China in 2015, according to figures from the World Travel & Tourism Council, a 53 per cent rise from the $140bn spent in 2014.

世界旅遊業理事會(WTTC)的數據顯示，2015年中國遊客在中國內地以外地區的消費額達2150億美元，較2014年的1400億美元增長了53%。

While outbound Chinese tourism has been growing strongly in recent years, yesterday’s figures represent a sharp acceleration.

近年來中國出境遊一直增長強勁，而昨天公佈的數據更是代表了急劇的加速增長。

“[Chinese] outbound tourism is growing like crazy,” says David Scowsill, president and chief executive of the WTTC. “There were some significant shocks last year, in the stock market and the currency, but it didn’t slow the growth of travel and tourism. Once people have started to travel, they are reluctant to give that up.”

“中國出境遊像瘋了一樣地增長，”WTTC的總裁兼首席執行官戴維斯科斯爾(David Scowsill)稱，“去年中國在股市和匯市經歷了一些顯著衝擊，但是並未拖累旅遊業增長。一旦人們開始旅行，他們就不願停下腳步。”

However, the surge in Chinese outbound tourism has widened the country’s trade deficit in the sector. The number of foreign tourists visiting China inched up to 56.9m in 2015, a rise of only 2.2 per cent in two years, said the UN World Tourism Organisation. Provision愀氀 figures from the body suggest these visitors spent about $57.5bn in China — a rise of just 1.1 per cent over 2014.

然而，中國出境遊迅速增長使得中國在該領域的貿易赤字擴大。聯合國世界旅遊組織(UN World Tourism Organisation)表示，2015年赴中國旅遊的外國遊客數量微升至5690萬人，兩年僅增長了2.2%。該組織提供的臨時數據顯示，這些遊客在中國消費了約575億美元——較2014年增長了僅1.1%。

According to the WTTC, China’s tourism exports — the revenues received from foreign visitors — were a fraction higher than this at $61bn. However, this was still just 2.6 per cent of the country’s total export revenue, compared with a global figure of 6.1 per cent.

WTTC表示，中國旅遊業出口額——來自外國遊客的旅遊收入——略高於上述外國遊客消費額，爲610億美元。但這仍然僅佔中國出口總收入的2.6%，相比之下全球該比例爲6.1%。

Factoring in domestic travel within China, the travel and tourism sector accounted for just 7.9 per cent of gross domestic product in 2015, the WTTC said, below the global figure of 9.8 per cent. The trade body says the industry, directly and indirectly, supported 65m jobs in China last year, 8.4 per cent of total employment, below the global figure of 9.5 per cent, or 284m jobs.

WTTC稱，將境內遊算在內，2015年中國旅遊業佔國內生產總值(GDP)的比例僅爲7.9%，低於9.8%的全球水平。該行業機構稱，去年旅遊業在中國直接和間接提供了6500萬個工作崗位，佔就業總數的8.4%，低於9.5%的全球水平（即2.84億個工作崗位）。

However, the WTTC believes China’s travel industry, already the world’s second-largest after that of the US, will ex瀀愀渀攙 by 7 per cent a year over the next decade, outstripping global growth of 4 per cent and overtaking the US by 2024.

但WTTC認爲中國旅遊業——已然是僅次於美國的全球第二大旅遊業——將在未來十年中每年增長7%，超過4%的全球增速，並將在2024年超過美國的規模。

To attract more foreign tourists, Mr Scowsill suggests China needs to copy the US by creating a visa waiver progra洀洀攀, introducing an electronic visa pro挀攀猀猀椀渀最 system and launching a China-wide marketing fund, rather than leaving marketing to individual provinces.

爲了吸引更多的外國遊客，斯科斯爾建議中國仿照美國，建立免籤計劃、引入電子簽證處理系統、並啓動全國範圍的推廣基金，而不是讓各省自行推廣旅遊業。

Beijing also needs to free more airspace for tourist flights, says Mr Scowsill. “Given the growth of [China’s] airlines, there is a tremendous strain on the air traffic systems. That is because the military are managing the airspace.”

斯科斯爾稱，北京方面還需要爲旅遊航班開放更多空域。“考慮到（中國）航線的增長，空中交通系統面臨巨大壓力。這是因爲軍方管理着空域。”

However, the surge in the number and spending power of China’s outbound tourists is not lifting all boats. The WTTC reported “severe declines” in tourism revenues in 2015 in Macau (down 32 per cent), South Korea (down 10.2 per cent) and Hong Kong (off by 8.4 per cent), each of which are highly reliant on visitors from mainland China.

不過，中國境外遊在遊客數量和消費能力上的增長並沒有使所有地區受益。WTTC報告稱，2015年澳門、韓國和香港的旅遊收入“嚴重下滑”，分別下滑了32%、10.2%和8.4%，以上地區均高度依賴中國內地遊客。