China Will Invest 20% more in Tourism Industry in 2016

(MENAFN- Qatar News Agency) China will invest 20% more in its tourism industry this year than in 2015 in hope that the industry's annual revenue will rise by 10% , according to a senior tourism official.

Investment will rise to 1.2 trillion yuan about (180 billion US dollars) and revenue to 4.55 trillion yuan, head of the National Tourism Administration Li Jinzao said at an industry conference.

Chinese are expected to make 4.38 billion trips for tourism within China this year, up 9.5% on 2015, and revenue from their travels will rise by 11% year on year to 3.8 trillion yuan, according to China's (Xinhua) News Agency.

A total of 263 million tourist trips are expected to be made by Chinese going abroad and foreigners coming into China in 2016, up 5% year on last year.

Tourism is playing an increasingly important role in China's economic growth as the country is steering the economy from one led by investment to one more driven by consumption. The sector accounted for about 10.8% of total GDP growth and 10.2% of national employment last year.