Outbound Chinese tourists, the number of whom is growing rapidly in recent years, have gained much attention during the 2017 global summit of the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) held in Bangkok from Wednesday to Thursday.
Many speakers talked about how to win a bigger share of Chinese tourists.
A total of 122 million Chinese tourists made outbound trips in 2016, while Thailand remained the top destination for Chinese tourists, according to a report jointly issued by Chinese travel services provider Ctrip and China Tourism Academy (CTA) in January.
"(The growing number of Chinese tourists) is the biggest opportunity for your tourism industry and for our countries," said former British Prime Minister David Cameron during his speech on Wednesday, noting that tens of millions of Chinese people join in the middle class and want to be travelers every year.
Indian market was also paid attention to during the summit as Indian service providers were also invited to share their ideas.
Amitabh Kant, CEO of NITI Aayog, asked the industry to get prepared and adapt itself for the future as China and India will become top tourism source markets in the near future.
Travel and tourism stimulates the economy by generating over 7.6 trillion U.S. dollars globally, supporting over 292 million jobs, which is now 1 in 10 jobs worldwide, said David Scowsill, president and CEO of WTTC, during his opening speech for the summit.
Scowsill urged over 900 leading figures from the public and private sectors to stand up and make a real difference.
