Chinese visitors to the rest of the world spent about $221 billion on travel last year, setting a new record for global outbound tourist spending. The total was an increase of about 12% over 2015.
That means that Chinese tourists spent more on travel than any other country’s travelers, which has been true each year since 2012. The number has been growing in double-digits since 2004, according to the UN World Tourism Organization.
The largest beneficiaries of that travel, which saw trips by 135 million Chinese, have been Japan, Korea and Thailand. The U.S. and Europe come next. After drops in the past two years as a response to terrorism attacks in Europe, the market appears to be coming back.
UNWTO supplied these figure for the world’s leading tourism sources:
Top 10 Markets For Outbound Tourist Spending in 2016
| Rank | Country | Spending ($U.S.) | % Growth Over 2015 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | China | $221 billion | 12% |
| 2 | U.S. | $122 billion | 8% |
| 3 | Germany | $81 billion | 5% |
| 4 | UK | $64 billion | 10% |
| 5 | France | $41 billion | 7% |
| 6 | Canada | $29 billion | 0% |
| 7 | Korea | $27 billion | 8% |
| 8 | Australia | $27 billion | 8% |
| 9 | Italy | $25 billion | 1% |
| 10 | Hong Kong | $24 billion | 5% |
